Sneak preview: 2022/23 Freeski World Cup

The 2022/23 FIS Freeski and FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe calendars were revealed last week at the annual spring committee meetings, and for the first time in four seasons we expect to see full crystal globe-worthy World Cup seasons of three, or more, events for all of halfpipe, slopestyle and big air on both the ski and snowboard side of things.

Freeski will see four big air, four halfpipe and six slopestyle World Cup competitions go down, while it will be four slopestyle, five halfpipe, and six big air competitions for the snowboarders.

2022/23 FIS Freeski calendar:

At this early point ahead of the 2022/23 season there are currently 12 venues in seven countries on three continents lined up and set to host a total of 14 FIS Freeski World Cup competitions from October through to the end of March, with a some legacy venues, a couple more recent additions, and a couple brand-new hosts spread amongst those stops.

We kick off next season’s Freeski calendar in Switzerland at the Big Air Chur Festival on 21 October, a competition that joined the World Cup last season and immediately established itself as one of the most exciting venues in the world with its mix of big air action, a full music festival lineup and some 15,000+ fans passing through the gates over the course of the weekend.

After a little break it’s on to Stubai (AUT) from 18-19 November for our annual trip to the Zoo, making this the fifth time in the past six seasons we’ve made an early-season stop at one of the most renowned glacier parks in Europe.

After that it’s a bit of a big air bonanza, beginning at our first new venue to be added for 2022/23 in Falun (SWE). After that we’ll be heading back to the scene of some of the most epic competitions of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games for big air action in Beijing from 2-3 December, before rolling on to North America to legendary Copper Mountain (USA) for a double dip of halfpipe and the final big air World Cup of the season, from 14-17 December.

(Note that the Beijing competition is currently listed as “To Be Confirmed…” due to uncertainty regarding covid-19 restrictions in China, so stay tuned for updates in the comping weeks.)

After the holiday break we fire things back up in Europe for a pair of slopestyle competitions, first at long-time World Cup venue Font Romeu (FRA) from 12-14 January, before heading back to Switzerland from 18-22 January to the second new venue to be added to the calendar in 2022/23, as the freeskiers will finally have a chance to join the snowboarders at one of the most historic and important competitions in the history of snowboarding – the Laax Open.

Exciting stuff, indeed.

At the same time the slopestyle skiers will be in Laax, back in North America the pipe specialists will be dropping in on the second halfpipe World Cup of the season at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park from 20-21 January, before the whole squad converges on Mammoth Mountain for the eighth time, for slope and pipe competition from 1-4 February.

After that the World Cup takes a step back for the season’s premier event, as we head over to Bakuriani, Georgia, for the 2023 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, where Freeski events will be running from 24 February-5 March.

This will be the eighth time that Freeski has been included in the WSCs programme, but only the third time that all three of the halfpipe, slopestyle and big air events will take part. Though we’ve yet to see action at the Bakuriani halfpipe as yet, the World Cup slopestyle test event at the venue last year tells us that this should be a good one, and an exciting showcase for freeskiing.

Following Bakuriani 2023 we head back to China, where we’ll be concluding the halfpipe season at what is perhaps the world’s finest pipe – the 2022 Olympic venue in Secret Garden.

Finally, we’ll close out the 2022/23 FIS Freeski World Cup season with a pair of slopestyle events, firstly at Tignes (FRA) from 16-18 March, before we shut down the season back where we started it in Switzerland, with Silvaplana once again serving as the World Cup season finale from March 23-26.

2022/23 FIS FREESKI DATES AND VENUES:

21-22 OCT

BIG AIR CHUR (SUI)

24-26 NOV

FALUN (SWE) BIG AIR

18-19 NOV

STUBAI (AUT) SLOPESTYLE

2-3 DEC

BEIJING (CHN) BIG AIR (TBC)

14-17 DEC

COPPER MOUNTAIN (USA) BIG AIR/HALFPIPE

12-14 JAN

FONT ROMEU (FRA) SLOPESTYLE

18-22 JAN

LAAX (SUI) SLOPESTYLE

20-21 JAN

CALGARY (CAN) HALFPIPE

01-04 FEB

MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN (USA) HALFPIPE/SLOPESTYLE

24 FEB – 05 MAR

BAKURIANI (GEO) 2023 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

09-11 MAR

SECRET GARDEN (CHN) HALFPIPE

16-18 MAR

TIGNES (FRA) SLOPESTYLE

23-26 MAR

SILVAPLANA (SUI) SLOPESTYLE