Press Release
SWATCH FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2015 VALLNORD-ARCALIS
ANDORRA BY THE NORTH FACE®
FEATURE DENSE VENUE MADE FOR AN EXTREMELY EXCITING
FIRST-EVER FWT EVENT IN ANDORRA TODAY
Hazel Birnbaum (USA) and Sam Smoothy (NZL) win in skiing – Estelle Balet (SUI) and Jonathan
Charlet (FRA) win snowboard
Women skiers Alaska qualified now settled
Final results:
Women’s Snowboard:
1. Estelle Balet (SUI) 83.00
2. Elodie Mouthon (FRA) 79.50
3. Shannan Yates (USA) 76.75
Women’s Ski:
1. Hazel Josie Birnbaum (USA) 78.75
2. Eva Walkner (AUT) 75.00
3. Francesca Ace Pavillard-Cain (USA) 72.25
Men’s Snowboard:
1. Jonathan Charlet (FRA) 90.00
2. Flo Orley (AUT) 86.50
3. Ralph Backstrom (USA) 83.75
Men’s Ski:
1. Sam Smoothy (NZL) 91.25
2. Jeremie Heitz (SUI) 82.00
3. Reine Barkered (SWE) 81.25
FULL RESULTS CLICK HERE
Vallnord-Arcalis, Andorra - February 13, 2015 – The competition in Vallnord-Arcalis today was held
under blue skies but in tricky snow conditions. The chosen venue in Andorra was characterized
by an unprecedented density of features on the face and a great variety of lines. With this contest
the women skiers have completed their qualification for the next stop of the tour, which will only
include the top 7 women in the overall ranking. The other categories only have two results so far.
They still have the possibility of getting in a third result counting for the Fieberbrunn KitzbühelerAlpen stop, restaged here in Andorra within the competition window ending on Thursday.
Women’s Ski
The women's skiing category was particularly exciting today, because it was decisive of who is qualified
for the next stop which will take place in Haines, Alaska (USA) on March 14th. Two Americans, Jackie
Paaso (USA) and Hazel Birnbaum (USA) were in the “hot seat” ranking 6th and 7th respectively, and
both made it in. Hazel showed a very decisive run today with great action earning her the top score of
78.75 and her first FWT victory. “I was pretty nervous coming in to today. I fell in the last event. I really
wanted to go to Alaska and represent our home country,” Hazel said at the bottom. “I just wanted to stay
on my feet. Last time was a pretty big ego-crash. I can't believe I won. Now I'm going to celebrate with my
friends - I'm going to my home state of Alaska!”
Eva Walkner (AUT) continued her streak of podiums with a second place and a score of 75.00, laying
out hard, dropping aggressively into the steep part, almost using the features to steer her down the steep
top section. The 3rd place was taken by Francesca Pavillard-Cain (USA) who started out with a nice big
air off the top lip, continuing playfully with a traversing air towards the skiers left and putting another good
size air into the middle section. A solid run scoring her 72.25 out of the 100 points possible.
The top 7 women qualified for Haines, Alaska
1. Eva Walkner (AUT) 6900.00
2. Silvia Moser (ITA) 5230.00
3. Hazel Josie Birnbaum (USA) 5020.00
4. Lotten Rapp (SWE) 4930.00
5. Jaclyn Paaso (USA) 4545.00
6. Francesca Ace Pavillard-Cain (USA) 4500.00
7. Lorraine Huber (AUT) 4055.00
See more here
Men’s Ski
The man of the day was Sam Smoothy (NZL) who scored an impressive 91.25 and took the 1st place in
men's skiing. He picked the skiers right of the face as one of the only riders, linking the spread out snow
pads with big air in excellent flow, keeping breath-taking action all along the face. A happy Sam, who
sees his possibilities of qualifying for Alaska re-opening, found confidence to send it in the conditions that
he said were close to what he knows from home in New Zealand: “Going into Andorra, I really needed a
good result. I just felt right at home here. I'm super psyched – it was an all-or-nothing run and it worked
for me.”
With bib number 2, Jeremie Heitz (SUI) set the standards for the day right off the bat with a score of
82.00. He laid out a fast, fluid run starting with a very technical jump into the steep couloir, impressing the
judges right away. Only Sam's spectacular line could beat that and left him with the second place.
Finally the stomp master, Reine Barkered (SWE), confirmed his podium from Chamonix-Mont-Blanc with
a line close to Jeremie's, giving him a score of 81.25 squeezing him in just ahead of Rodney George
(USA) who had a score of 81.00 in a very tight top field.
Reine is now leading the current standings and said he is feeling more relaxed about the upcoming
events: “Today I was actually not nervous at all in the beginning – and then I got up to the start and got
really nervous for some reason. Surprised though, I had a pretty straightforward line I think – but of
course you don't know if you are going to ride it well. Snow was okay and I got most of my features in and
landed clean I think and it went really fast so I'm super happy with a 3rd place here today. This of course,
puts me in a really good position now for the Tour with a 2nd and a 3rd place it should be really good – I
think – so it definitely takes a lot of pressure off for the upcoming events opening up so I can really go full
charge, with a no holding-back-kind of riding.”
Men’s Snowboard
The snowboarders put on an impressive show taking advantage of the diversity of options on the face
and showing mastery of their technical skills. Jonathan Charlet (FRA) received the highest score of the
day with 90.00. He dropped into the steeps with a perfect 180 off the wind lip up top and continued down
the in beautiful fast-paced turns, making the steep part look very easy before making an exit jump out of
the couloir. He spiced up the middle section with a feature pulling a grab, finally ending his spectacular
line stomping a playful bottom air and yelling with happiness, claiming it, as he went through the
characteristic black Swatch arch into the Finish.
“I'm absolutely stoked! I felt great coming down. Snow had turned good and I had perfect grip. I took all
my airs as I wanted,” he explained, calming down his excitement a bit before talking about the
continuation of the season: “I stay calm for now while hoping to obtain that ticket to Alaska.”
Flo Orley (AUT) showed some of his best action ever in a very original line. He started out with a big,
highly exposed air crossing over to a very narrow couloir before hitting more big airs. A line that showed a
complete repertoire of skills and gave him a score of 86.50. “I'm super stoked to be here in Andorra – the
mountains look very much like home. The terrain in the area where I went is just like my home mountain
and the snow softened up so I could do what I wanted. When I saw the score I was like the happiest man
on the planet,” said the experienced rider showing that he is still able to send it big time.
The third podium place went to Ralph Backstrom (USA) who received a score 83.75 with a line similar
to Jonathan's at the top and playing it a little more safe at the bottom,”putting another result in the pocket
to get to Alaska” as he said was his game plan.
Women’s Snowboard
The female snowboarders seemed to enjoy the many smaller features cramming in good action
throughout the face. Most impressive today was Estelle Ballet (SUI) who showed both very technical
turns in high speed up top in the steep section, and fun action playing with the features on the lower part.
She got a high score of 83.00 putting her in 1st place. “I'm really excited and I had a lot of fun competing
today! I rode just like I would have, when I'm out with my friends - no pressure!” she said. With regards to
Alaska, Estelle continued: “Of course I feel more and more confident about the continuation of the season
and Alaska which is getting closer!”
Elodie Mouthon (FRA) successfully linked her turns and smaller features in good control, earning her a
score of 79.50 and a 2nd place. Shannan Yates (USA) took almost the same line putting in few but
strategically well-chosen airs. She obtained a score of 76.75 and the 3rd place, thus keeping the lead of
the current standing.
A great debut promising for the future
Today's event in Vallnord-Arcalis was the first time that the Swatch Freeride World Tour by The North
Face® had a competition stop in Andorra. The local FWQ rider Dani Fornell-Prat (AND) competed on a
host's wild card and was thrilled to be a part of this: “We are really proud to host the Tour here. Five years
ago this was inconceivable and here we are. The media have been talking about this for months and
months. Everybody here wanted for all these 'animals' to come and compete here.”
Dani didn't let down his local fans, putting down an absolutely spectacular run with a huge air going into
the face and sending it almost into orbit on the bottom, being drawn down in the score only by a few small
control issues in the middle. With a score of 71.75 he placed 12th in today's action packed event.
All together, this was an extremely successful event for Vallnord-Arcalis, Andorra. A great debut as an
FWT host and a stop that the riders will definitely look forward to coming back to next year!
Update on the restaging of the Fieberbrunn Kitzbüheler-Alpen event
Just following today's event, it was announced that the conditions forecasted will not allow for the
resumption of the Fieberbrunn Kitzbüheler-Alpen event to take place tomorrow. However, the possibility
of making it happen here in Andorra stays open until Thursday February 19th 2015. Updates will be
posted as soon as a decision has been made to confirm a date and face for this event or if it has to be
cancelled all together.
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