Font Romeu, France (12 January 2017) - The 2016/2017 FIS Freestyle Skiing Slopestyle World Cup is underway in Font Romeu, France with NZ’s Jossi Wells successfully through qualifying rounds against a stacked field.
The first of the season's five competitions is being staged at one of the most prestigious skiing contest in Europe, the SFR Freestyle Tour and begins the qualification process for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang (KOR). The men’s and women’s starting lists are chock-full of big names and, as expected, today’s competition saw world-class action.
Jossi Wells competed in the second of two heats and finished in fourth place, safely within the top eight (in each heat) who will take on Saturday’s finals. Finn Bilous (Wanaka) - who has recently been named as a finalist in the Emerging Talent category for the 54th Halberg Awards - came close to making the cut, finishing ninth in his heat.
The finals promise to be a spectacular show with the who’s who of freeskiing ready to throw down, including last year's slopestyle World Cup winner Andri Ragettli (SUI), and Sochi gold and bronze medalists Joss Christiansen and Nick Goepper of the USA.
The ladies' qualifications are set to take place on Friday at 10:45 (Friday night NZT) but with bad weather in the forecast, the schedule may be subject to change. Four New Zealand athletes – Anna Willcox (Auckland), Adie Lawrence (Queenstown), Gia Hughes (Auckland) and Margaux Hackett (Queenstown) – will be competing and face stiff competition from some of the biggest names in the sport. The line-up includes Sochi Olympic Games gold and bronze medalists Dara Howell and Kim Lamarre of Canada, as well as top performers Emma Dahlstrom (SWE) and Lisa Zimmermann (GER).
Live scoring will be available HERE
Ends
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8 years ago
world cup,
slopestyle,
Jossi Wells,
Finn Bilous,
Font Romeu