Objavljeno dne 06.03.2010

On Kanin mountain today the French skier Mathieu Imbert and Austrian snowboarder Roland Hofer became winners of fifth edition of Freeride Battle, a Freeride World Qualifier event. Women’s competition had to be cancelled due to poor visibility.

Male snowboarders and skiers finished their run in Freeride Battle Kanin 2010 today before a cloud covered the mountain and the contest had to be stopped.

All 17 male snowboarders made it to the bottom while only 35 out of 45 male skiers were lucky enough to drop in before the competition was interrupted. According to the regulation the results of men’s ski category can be made official since over two thirds of the field had their runs.

All female riders were still at the start when the competition was stopped, 8 skiers and 6 snowboarders. Conditions did not improve and later the women’s competition was cancelled since the weather forecast for Sunday, the reserve day, was bad.

For a second time in FWQ two weeks, skier Mathieu Imbert of France took the top spot. The 28-year old who calls Vars his home resort won Eldorado Freeride event in Andorra two weeks ago. This time among others the rider in Smurf blue jumpsuit threw a stylish 360 and hugest drop of the day. “I’m doing well but it is not my goal to qualify for Freeride World Tour. After my alpine racing career I’ve been riding on the top level of freeriding for five years, then I quit in 2004. This winter I’m back just riding for myself, for fun and for the spirit of freeriding.”
On podium Matieu was joined by 2nd placed Pyrenees shredder Daniel Fornel of Andora and 3rd placed Juan Bergada of Argentina who resides in Lech in Arlberg, Austria.

The title of snowboard champion of Freeride Battle 2010 went to Roland Hofer of Austria. It is the 2nd FWQ win for the 28-year old park shaper and snowboarding instructor from Saalbach-Hinterglemm. He won the 2009 edition of Mystic Experience in Aosta, Italy. “It is my first time here, I like the mountains and there is lots of snow. It is my third freeride season. One of the reasons I compete is because in freeriding your are never as safe as you are in competition.”
The 2008 and 2009 Freeride Battle winner Niklas Hollsten of Finland placed second and another Austrian Christian Schnabel from Arlberg placed third.

Freeride Battle organizer Jan Maček wraps it up: “I am sorry we had to end the event without a completed men’s ski run and no women’s competition at all. We’ve been doing our best to ensure at least one run to everybody as long as it was safe. In the end safety reasons prevailed, we had no choice. Being a part of Freeride World Qualifier series not only brings us top riders who even in hard conditions showed some super-exciting descents, it also requires more responsibility from us. Apart from great riding we were also excited to see new faces and make new friends. All this keeps us motivated for further events.”

Results

Ski men
1. Mathieu Imbert (Fra) 26,2 points
2. Daniel Fornel (And) 24,1
3. Juan Bergada (Arg) 20,7
4. Thomas Leitner (Ger) 19,7
5. Stefan Moser (Aut) 18,8

Snowboard men
1. Roland Hofer (Aut) 22 points
2. Niklas Hollsten (Fin) 18,7
3. Christian Schnabel (Aut) 18,2
4. Juuso Nissinen (Fin) 17,1
5. Irin Van Helfteren (Ned) 16,3

Result lists (PDF) >

Start (photo Grega Stopar)