HIGHLIGHTS [STAGE 3] MEDEPIC 2023
The Mediterranean Epic 2023 returned to Oropesa del Mar for the longest stage in its history. A total of 104 km with 2,200 metres of altitude and a long list of trails and technical sections put the riders to the test.
Three premieres went down in the Open Faces books: Olivia Riedl caused cheers in the snowboard women's category with two backflips in her competition run and both a double frontflip and a double backflip in men's categories showed the insane level at this 1* qualifier contest.
Snowboard Men
Sebastian Kepplinger and Philipp Lanjus ensured an Austrian double victory in the category of snowboard men. Kepplinger showed a self-confident run from start to finish and delivered many jumps. Despite a short „butt-check" after a huge 360 over the first kicker, he followed up with a backflip over the second kicker and secured first place.
Snowboard Women
With a lead of more than 10 points on the second-placed Martina Matula from Slovakia, the Austrian Olivia Riedl was able to repeat her victory from the previous year and amazed the crowd when she showed two backflips in her run. Not only did she ensure a superior victory, but is also the first woman to show a (or rather two) backflip in an Open Faces Freeride competition!
Ski Women
Local hero" Vicky Candlin was able to claim a home win after her last year's third place. Candlin did a smooth run with safe cliff drops and good speed until the finish and was rewarded for her clever choice of line.
Ski Men
As freshly crowned Vice World Champion at the Freeride Junior World Championships in Kappl almost 3 weeks ago, the German Tiemo Rolshoven, who lives in Vorarlberg, once again proved his class. He opted for a clever line which earned him a lot of points and presented his „airs" with safe technique. Garnished with a „720", he got a top score and took the lead in the field of ski men's category.
The journey for a later Freeride World Tour career starts with valuable points in the 1 and 2 star contests. The "bowl-like" wide face of the Wiedersberger Horn is described in the scene as the optimal terrain for fast, playful runs. In between you will always find one or the other cliff, which brings valuable points for the final result.
This year's schedule boasts five stops in five different countries, with two finals events and a two-run format in Fieberbrunn, where riders' top score will count towards their result. To up the pressure even more, and to reward those with the nerves – and legs – of steel, 12,500 points for first place (instead of 10,000) will again be up for grabs in the FWT finals events.
So far this season, riders in every category have shown the world why they are the best of the best, pushing the limits and each other to new extremes. The ski men's category is extremely tight, with reigning FWT World Champion, Maxime Chabloz (SUI), sitting on top just 80 points clear of rookie Max Hitzig (GER). Ludovic Guillot-Diat (FRA) and Molly Armanino (USA) in the snowboard men's and ski women's categories, respectively, have narrow leads over the rest of the field, while Katie Anderson (CAN) – snowboard women – is sitting comfortably ahead after two spectacular wins.
The route was full of steep, technical and spectacular coastal trails that pushed the riders to their limits – the riders mastered a total of 265 km with 6100 meters of climbing. Some of the world's best riders from 30 countries competed, among them 2021 World Champion Andreas Seewald (GER), the current Cape Epic champions Georg Egger (GER) and Lukas Baum (GER), as national champions like Martin Stosek (CZE), Wout Alleman (BEL) and Hans Becking (NED). After four tough days of racing it was once again Georg Egger (GER), winner of the 2022 Mediterranean Epic, who proved to be the strongest, riding to solo victory in the general classification. In the women's race, Luisa Daubermann (GER) was the surprise of this year's Mediterranean Epic. She rode a flawless race without faltering and claimed the victory in the overall classification.
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Yesterday, Europe’s premium freestyle event celebrated a premiere, for the first time ever Freeskiers were part of the event. The FIS World Cup made its first guest appearance at the LAAX OPEN 2023 with two sport disciplines – snowboarding and freesking. Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) and World champion Marcus Kleveland (NOR) take home the LAAX OPEN Slopestyle titles, while Japanese Junior Olympic champions Ono Mitsuki (JPN) and Ruka Hirano (JPN) are the 2023 Halfpipe champions. The winning quartet has one common denominator - the first LAAX OPEN victory for all four!
Premier victories for Johanne Killi and Andri Ragettli at the FIS Freeski World Cup in LAAX. Reigning Slopestyle World Champion and local hero Andri Ragettli (SUI) wins ahead of Olympic Champions Alex Hall (USA) and Birk Ruud (NOR). No stranger to the LAAX victory podium is Johanne Killi. As the first LAAX OPEN Freeski winner, the Norwegian completes the loop to the European Freeski Open, held in LAAX in previous years where she won in 2014 as a newcomer.
Three premieres went down in the Open Faces books: Olivia Riedl caused cheers in the snowboard women's category with two backflips in her competition run and both a double frontflip and a double backflip in men's categories showed the insane level at this 1* qualifier contest.
Snowboard Men
Sebastian Kepplinger and Philipp Lanjus ensured an Austrian double victory in the category of snowboard men. Kepplinger showed a self-confident run from start to finish and delivered many jumps. Despite a short „butt-check" after a huge 360 over the first kicker, he followed up with a backflip over the second kicker and secured first place.
Snowboard Women
With a lead of more than 10 points on the second-placed Martina Matula from Slovakia, the Austrian Olivia Riedl was able to repeat her victory from the previous year and amazed the crowd when she showed two backflips in her run. Not only did she ensure a superior victory, but is also the first woman to show a (or rather two) backflip in an Open Faces Freeride competition!
Ski Women
Local hero" Vicky Candlin was able to claim a home win after her last year's third place. Candlin did a smooth run with safe cliff drops and good speed until the finish and was rewarded for her clever choice of line.
Ski Men
As freshly crowned Vice World Champion at the Freeride Junior World Championships in Kappl almost 3 weeks ago, the German Tiemo Rolshoven, who lives in Vorarlberg, once again proved his class. He opted for a clever line which earned him a lot of points and presented his „airs" with safe technique. Garnished with a „720", he got a top score and took the lead in the field of ski men's category.
Men’s round four was the very close: Heat between Maxime Chabloz (15.93) and Francesco Cappuzzo (14.57). A scrappy fight for waves was separated by a marginal difference between two excellent front flips off kickers, in Maxime’s favour. But the most nail-biting heat, and perhaps most surprising result, given the predominant weighting towards wave riding, was the heat between Brazilian waterman and ex-windsurfing wave world champion Kauli Seadi, and French tour regular, Bastien Escofet.
Kauli had been first to take advantage with a good wave from left to right across the whole comp area early in the heat, before the two then traded good frontside waves. Six minutes to go in the ten minute heat and it was tight; 16.39 to 16.33 to the Brazilian. Bastien spent four minutes caught on the inside and had to paddle out past the shore break. He finally made it out and, with 90 seconds to go, landed a fully committed front flip that earned him a 7.23. He slipped into the lead while Kauli was caught on the inside and this was the best example of how the single freestyle trick could be used to make a crucial difference when wave riding more or less otherwise dominated proceedings.
Winner Women and World Champion: Mikaili Sol (BRA)
Retaining her title to become the Qatar Airways GKA Freestyle-Kite Women's World Champion 2022, Mika is a truly dominant force in the sport at the moment and now has six kiteboarding world titles. Already far enough ahead in the final to be assured of reclaiming her crown, Mika's grabbed Stalefish Slim 5 on trick six had all of her most unique traits about it – full entry and exit power, technical brilliance and style, and scored a huge 9.0 from the judges, contributing to her commanding 31.67 overall heat score.
2nd Place Women: Bruna Kajiya (BRA) and 3rd Place Women: Rita Arnaus (ESP)
1st Place Men: Gianmaria Coccoluto (ITA) demonstrated to the world at this event exactly how freestyle kiteboarding should be performed. Utilising the perfect conditions of Taiba, the Italian put on a spectacular and progressive display of riding throughout every heat and his performances included the highest heat score ever on the GKA Kite World Tour, with 38.74 points from four tricks in the quarter final. Although Maxime Chabloz came close to stealing the event win in the dying moments of the final, Gianmaria is the new and much deserving Qatar Airways GKA Freestyle-Kite Men's World Champion, having proved himself as the ultimate freestyler in the ultimate location against the ultimate field.
2nd Place Men: Maxime Chabloz (SUI), a unique multi-discipline competitor. 3rd Place Men: Erick Anderson (BRA), a local hero.
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