Fieberbrunn, Austria – As the fifth and last event prior to the big Freeride World Tour (FWT) season finale in Verbier, Switzerland next weekend, every rider who dropped into the 600-meter Wildseeloder face at the Swatch Big Mountain Fieberbrunn by Nissan on Saturday had something on the line. Some needed to score enough points to get an invitation to Verbier while those at the top of the ranking were going for the win in order to break into the lead for the overall title. On Saturday four Austrians dominated the podium with Stefan Hausl and Mitch Toelderer each taking the top step with solid, exciting runs down the challenging face.nFaced with a long, demanding venue with less than perfect snow, top riders on Saturday played it safe by focusing on fluid lines to preserve their position in the rankings while others charged the course with everything they had in order to score the critical points that would boost them towards the top of the rankings.
Ski Men
Austrian rider Hausl was clearly one of the latter, charging hard, and took the lead early with a crowd pleasing line that started with a cleanly landed 15-meter air, and followed with a fast and fluid line from top to bottom ending with a big, old-school “Spread Eagle” trick at the bottom. Sweden’s Reine Barkered came in second followed by Fieberbrunn’s native son, Matthias Haunholder.
“It was a perfect day. The conditions were very difficult, like spring conditions but we gambled a little bit and in the end most of the Austrians made the right decisions for this venue,” Hausl said. “This is my first FWT victory and after I placed third in Sochi I’m completely stoked. This face is perfectly tailored for my riding style: at the beginning it’s very steep and difficult with big rocks, then there’s a section where I could show some speed, then, in the last section, I tried to two or three fun things.”
The men’s ski overall ranking has been amazingly close all season long on the FWT and following Hausl’s win on Saturday the tour has its fifth overall leader after as many contests. Hausl sits a mere five points ahead of the previous week’s leader, Samuel Anthamatten of Switzerland, with French skier Aurélien Ducroz dropping from second to third.
Snowboard Men
The snowboard men were no less exciting on Saturday with the Austrian locals pushing hard for the win. As the second snowboarder out of the gate, Toelderer rode the course like a man possessed, with a run that started immediately out of the gate with a few smaller drops to landing a huge double jump clean and then taking a six-meter cliff drop with a slightly sketched landing. Coming in second place was another Austrian, Max Zipser followed by the sole Briton on the tour, James Stentiford, with his best finish of the season.
“For an Austrian to win at Fieberbrunn for such an amazing audience, it was really special for me,” Toelderer said. “Max [Zipser], Stefan [Hausl] and Hauni [Matthias Haunholder] and I all rode almost the same line and it was a really good decision, but in the beginning I was not sure. But I’m super happy that everything went as planned and that we decided to go on this spectacular line.”
“I’m happy that I stayed on my feet all the way through the course and to be on the podium is better than I expected,” acknowledged Stentiford. “It’s a great achievement for someone from the UK. Basically I decided yesterday to go skiers’ right because no one had chosen that line. I tried to stay fluid, keep my speed, I jumped over a few things and stayed on my feet.”
Austria’s Flo Orley rode into this event in the top overall position with 5300 points, and his lead was solid enough that he remains in the top position going into Verbier. However, Toelderer’s win on Saturday boosts him into second place with 5200 points while 2010 Freeride World Tour Champion, Xavier de Le Rue of France, drops into third with 4360 points.
Next Stage: Verbier, Switzerland
After an incredible season of strong riding across Europe, North America and Russia, the men skiers and snowboarders will finally compete in the event that they have worked so hard to reach. The season finale Nissan Xtreme Verbier 2011 by Swatch is scheduled to take place on March 19 on the legendary Bec des Rosses face. Now in its 16th edition, this event is the longest-running big mountain competition in the world and riders will be giving everything they have to not only see their name alongside past winners but also for the chance to win the overall ranking and be crowned 2011 Freeride World Champion.