Quebec City (QC), Canada – Things will get serious for the world’s best snowboarders when the 10th FIS Snowboard World Championships kick off on Thursday with the slopestyle qualifiers at Stoneham Mountain Resort. From January 17th through 27th, a total of 432 riders from 46 nations will compete for gold, silver and bronze in six different events at Stoneham and in nearby Quebec City.
The massive and deep field is led by almost every title defender including Enni Rukajarvi of Finland and Seppe Smits of Belgium in the slopestyle, Australia’s Holly Crawford and Nathan Johnstone in the halfpipe, Petja Piiroinen of Finland in the big air, Australia’s Alex Pullin in the snowboard cross as well as race boarders Benjamin Karl (Austria), Hilde-Katrine Engeli (Norway) and Alena Zavarzina (Russia) will all be defending their titles.
In addition, some of the 2010 Olympic Champions are also entering the competition, including Vancouver Halfpipe Gold medalist Torah Bright of Australia, who will start in the slopestyle contest. Canada’s own Jasey Jay Anderson will give it another shot in the parallel races while 2010 Snowboard Cross Olympic Champions Maelle Ricker of Canada and American Seth Wescott are also in Quebec to go for gold.
Over the course of the two weeks, the world’s best will notice some alterations to this truly spectacular event compared to previous World Cups staged in Quebec. One of the new features is the slopestyle event taking place on the same slope as the PGS and PSL events, as it delivers more space and better slope angle to create the speed that allows larger jumps.
In addition, the snowboard cross course design for the World Championships features a longer stretch to provide riders with higher speed for more air time for jumps. Additionally, more space has been allocated in order to allow for better passing.
The halfpipe was also extended to allow every rider a minimum of five hits for a better variety of tricks.
OFFICIAL SCHEDULE
World Snowboarding Championships
(all times local and subject to change)
Thursday, January 17
9:50 AM Qualification Slopestyle, men
2:30 PM Qualification Slopestyle, women
Friday, January 18
9:50 AM Semi finals Slopestyle, women and men
12 PM Finals Slopestyle, women and men
7 PM Qualification Big Air
Saturday, January 19
10 AM Qualification Halfpipe, women
11:50 AM Qualification Halfpipe, men
5 PM Semi finals Big Air
7 PM Finals Big Air
Sunday, January 20
9:40 AM Semi finals Halfpipe, women and men
12 PM Finals Halfpipe, women and men
Thursday, January 24
10:30 AM Qualification Snowboard Cross, men
1:30 PM Qualification Snowboard Cross, women
Friday, January 25
9 AM Qualification parallel giant slalom, women and men
1 PM Finals parallel giant slalom, women and men
Saturday, January 26
11 AM Finals Snowboard Cross, women and men
Sunday, January 27
9 AM Qualification parallel slalom, women and men
1 PM Finals parallel slalom, women and men