2021/22 FIS Freeski slopestyle World Cup season preview
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The men’s field is stacked, however, and on any given day there are 20 or more skiers capable of elevating their game and walking away with a win.
The one skier who’s elevated his competition-day game more than any other over the past six seasons is Andri Ragettli (SUI), the all-time FIS Freeski World Cup leader with 20 podiums, eight victories (tying him with Canada’s Cassie Sharpe) and four crystal globes.
Last season Ragettli claimed the first World Championships gold medal of his career by taking top spot at the Aspen 2021 slopestyle competition. Unfortunately he followed that up by overshooting the landing at the Aspen 2021 big air World Championships competition and suffering a knee injury in the process.
While Ragettli is back on snow and focused on being in prime shape for Beijing 2022, it will be interesting to see how hard he goes in World Cup competition leading up to the Games. However, with the likes of Fabian Boesch, Kim Gubser and Colin Wili all on the roster, the Swiss team in guaranteed to be strong once again this season.
Looking down the World Cup rankings from 2020/21 we see three Norwegians behind Stevenson – Ferdinand Dahl, Christian Nummedal and Sebastian Schjerve – and they, along with Birk Ruud, who took third place at the Chur Big Air already this season, will certainly be ones to watch.
The US team will be formidable as always, with skiers like Alex Hall, Mac Forehand, Cody Laplante and 2x Olympic medallist Nick Goepper all set to rep the Star and Stripes, while their northern neighbours the Canadians will be rolling just as heavy with Evan McEachran, Mark Hendrickson, Max Moffat and Big Air Chur second-place finisher Teal Harle on the roster.
We could go on all day, but one other name to mention is Matej Svancer, the Czech-turned-Austrian 17-year-old who wowed the crowd in Chur on his way to his first career World Cup victory in just his fifth start. The reigning Youth Olympic Games big air gold medallist and Junior World Champion in both big air and slopestyle, Svancer looks set to make a heavy impact on the World Cup tour this season.
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