 Andorra was spectacular. What? Huge backflip! But now, the Vildsiloda is calling. For event number three, the athletes will need to conquer the Austrian giant. Only the top-ranked athletes will advance to the finals in Verbier. So, it's crunch time. For the third event of this year's Freeride World Tour, we headed to Austria. Located in the Tyrol region in the heart of the Kitzbühler Alps, Fieberbrunn has a long history of hosting the Freeride World Tour. The venue is the north face of the Vildsiloda. The start sits at 2,119 metres and extends over 620 metres with a gradient of up to 70%. A warm spell leading up to the competition had quite an impact on the venue. Snow depth wasn't great, so the riders examined it carefully to ensure they could navigate safely. The male snowboarders would be the guinea pigs discovering which lines were working. In this category, youth has climbed to the top of the podium. Cody Bramwell had done well in Andorra last season, but stepped it up in 2021 and took his victory ahead of Blake Moller at event number one. I'm overwhelmed. I can't believe this is actually happening. Boyed by his success, Blake Moller went one better in the second event to take his first ever win on the Freeride World Tour. It's pretty insane that it came to life, so I'm super excited. With Bramwell stumbling on a landing and only finishing in eighth, Moller now shares the lead with the Brit. French rider Victor de la Rue sits in third. With his place in the finals assured, Cody decided to play it safe in Feverbrunn. I was like, planning on trying to just put one down because I had a first and a last and I was like, I need to get a decent score down. So I was like, just stay in your feet, just get down, that's it. And I managed to stay in my feet. It wasn't the cleanest, but I'm happy I just didn't top my heart for anything. Nils Mindenick won both events here in Feverbrunn in 2020, so on paper he certainly looks like the favourite. But the low tide conditions this year have created a totally different face with a very different personality. Backside 180? To switch backside 180 up at the top certainly had the judges' pencil scribbling. He then picked up pace into the main chute. Fantastically scientific in his approach to snowboarding. He managed to find his way out to the rider's left-hand side and put down a beautiful backside 360. Tombert once famously said that good riders can make bad snow look great. And that was certainly the case for Nils Mindenick. He let his experience and technique shine. Stable, centred and in control of this run from top to bottom. So a final score of 83. The snowboard men's season is friggin' stacked, dude. Everyone's so good. Anyone could and will win this thing. So I think at Verbier there's still a lot of room for things to be swapped around and nobody should be left unaccounted for. Victor Dilarou, the 2019 world champion, is one of those riders looking for a good result here. Going from start number two, the opposite start to Nils Mindenick, he headed out to the right-hand side of the face. More shade over here, so a better snow quality but less accumulation. So lines are harder to come by and you've got to watch out for those sharks. Victor set off on this highline into this lip and sent a beautiful 360, way bigger than anything else we'd seen in the category, up to this point. He then found himself hooking up a nose above this exposure. It was a quick recovery, though. He sent this cliff deep into the landing with a very, very solid reception. But he didn't back off as he came through this mogul field and cleared the canyon. Hank Billers had done it the year previously, but snow conditions had been way, way better. He then found himself in these death cookies and debris and Victor Dilarou had got a very impressive run under his belt. Honestly, I had so many doubts about this gap. For me, even when I look at it from here, it doesn't look like it works. I told Bimboz who did it first in the Fried World Tour yesterday, he told me, oh, he did it freaking fast, but he told me, oh, OK, OK, but it will work, so it was OK. And this morning, I just asked Tony who did it last year, and he said, oh, actually it's pretty mellow and this gave me a lot of confidence as well. Dilarou rediscovered the form that delivered him the world title in 2019 and a 90.67 is an immense score. Tour leader Blake Moller decided to go big with a corked backside 720. Fortunately, the fall resulted in a low score, which would see him finish in seventh. It was fun, snow was better, but I fell on a little back serve attempt. Yeah, it was fun though, I was stoked to try it. I had nothing to lose, so mine as well. Victor Dilarou had a perfect view from the hot seat of his friend Camille Armand, dropping into the face, wishing him well, but maybe not too well if he wanted to hold on to that first place. Armand is sat on a fifth and seventh from Andorra, so he needed something special here if he wanted to advance to the finals in Verbier. But the Chamonite loves the bigger, steeper faces, so this event played to his strengths. He headed out to the rider's right and attacked the same setup as Victor Dilarou with a 360. But without the grab, it was a little looser. The landing was perfect though, but to celebrate, he arched out a couple of the most beautiful turns the tour has seen so far this winter. It fed him onto the top of this drop, and despite that hard landing, he absolutely greased it. He then very nearly overcooked the run on the last hit. He did make it through this 360 and cling on to the finish. So Camille Armand in desperate need of a solid result. There's that 360 up top, very solid landing, and you can see fluidity, line, and air and style are high. There's that solid landing that he managed to punch through. Here's the 360 that nearly caught him out. Luckily, stayed on his feet. Much to the delight of his friend Victor Dilarou, 85.67, good enough for a second. We are very happy about my run. For me, second or one is perfect for today, so I finish second, so what else? So last year's champion Nils Mignik finished in third. Cody Bramwell just missed out on the podium in fourth. For the 2019 Tour Champion, Victor Dilarou takes his first win of the season. I'm super damn stoked to take another victory here. I had it like two years ago, and this year I was really riding pretty bad, like the first two stops, and this one I was just like, okay, I'm not even sure if my line would work, but I just tried, we'll see. And it worked out, and I got the win, and so it's really giving me a lot of energy for all the rest of the season. In the overall, Blake Moller holds on to the top spot with Dilarou moving ahead of Bramwell into second. Camille Armand's result means he leapfrogs Michael Morn to take the last qualifying spot for the final in Verbier. With three different winners from each event and no consistency beneath them, the men's snowball category is still wide open. Up next is the ski category. This time the men will go first, but before we get started, let's have a quick look at where we stand. Not for the first time in the men's ski category, a rookie took the win in the first event of the season. With a huge 360 and a backflip, Ross Tester took the win in his free-ride World Tour debut event. But in event number two, he stepped things up with a flat-spin backflip but couldn't stomp it this time. Andrew Pollard saw his chance and grabbed it with both hands, banking one of the fastest runs of the day, and this huge drop at the end guaranteed the American the win. I actually didn't think I could win one of these comps anymore with how good the kids and, hell, even the old guys are skiing like Raina. Like, it's such a cool group of people, so to win it's pretty much the biggest honor I've ever had. Pollard sits second in the rankings ahead of veteran Raina Barker. But on top it's a rookie. Meille Olivier had a great debut on the free-ride World Tour. A second and a fourth place finish makes him the top contender for this year's title, if he can keep up the consistency. Hey, now I recognize you. Thank you. I hope so. A snowboarder made a lot of bomb holes in my landing, so we'll see. Well, it shouldn't be an issue for the mayor of Stomptown. Raina Barker has had so many different phases to his career, but it feels like this year he's found yet another gear. Tapping into the enthusiasm and stoke of the rookies on tour he's been committing to some huge lines, which coupled with his experience has been paying big dividends. He headed straight to the eagle chute. This is the big mountain showpiece and sent that huge cliff at Mach 10. After a brief respite as he made his way through the middle of the face, he then doubled down again with a drop that, in the absence of rocks to gauge the size of the features, was at first difficult to measure. But as you can see now, it was absolutely massive and somehow he held on to the landing. Great snow at the top, got my line exactly the way I wanted it. Come down to the middle. Snow got a little tricky, but better than expected actually. At the very end I had a medium sized air into some snow that was extremely challenging and it was just hold on for their life and make it to the finish line. Overall pretty fun. Despite that final scare, he made it to the finish area with one of the most electrifying runs of 2021 under his belt. Next it was the turn of Ross Tester, the man with the freestyle skills of an X Games contender and the edge control of an Alpine racer. Ross Tester is built for the free ride world tour as he proved in Andorra taking a win at his first ever event at the elite level. It's a legitimate question to ask of a rookie, but can he step up to a big mountain face? The answer, a resounding yes when he launched this huge backflip into the chute on the right hand side of the face. A couple of very playful turns and jumps and then he made his way down onto the exit cliff. Tau cry back and had a go at this one and failed. Could Ross Tester make it work? Yes, he could. A huge left side 360 into Tau crybacks bomb hole. Rene and Ross had landed two very different runs, but how would they compare? When I was sitting up there, I was going through all the different things I could have done. I came to the decision to do a backie and a three and I knew I had those locked down, so I put it together. Tester bet his bar crib by just one point and the mayor of Stomptown has to vacate the hot seat. Usually the model of consistency, Christopher Turdell was under pressure here to stick a rump and get a solid position to ensure he would advance to Verbier. So the question was, would he throttle back and aim to guarantee a finish in the middle of the pack or would he give it his all? He dropped straight into the eagle and followed compatriot Rene Bacrid's double line with a grace that belied the blistering speed he'd picked up. But refusing to check that speed, he blasted through one pinch and then just managed to hold on through the mogul field of an in-run that spat him out and over the canyon. He may have lacked the composure that Victor Dilarou showcased earlier, but he'd managed to join together the most critical zones on the face. A phenomenal descent from Christopher Turdell. I knew I was going to have to carry a lot of speed to clear the canyon and I also knew about the little bump for the kick. So I tried to swallow the bump, but I had too much speed so I just almost flew over the bump and then into the kicker and bounced off over the canyon. I don't know how it looked, but I'm glad I'm landing on my feet. So an emphatic descent that was going for the win, would the judges agree? No, 87 points enough for third, just behind Rainer. There's some heavy hitters coming in. We've got Myel, the current leader, coming in and a few other big dogs up there. So crossing my fingers it holds, but pretty much guaranteed podium at this point, so I'm stoked on that. Carl Regnet Ericsson, who alongside Turdell and Rene Barcred is part of the Swedish big mountain mafia. They share their opinions and experiences, especially when it comes to lines and as a result, you'll often see them taking similar routes down the mountain. And on the Vildsi loader, that was definitely the case. Carl heading straight for the eagle. Not as clean as Rainer and Turdell through there, but he did manage to track across the face and chuck in a 360. Would it be enough? Line and air and style absolutely maxed in the judging criteria. That 360, the icing on the cake. Carl waited patiently for his score. An 87 would put him in joint third place with Turdell. I have the same points as Christopher Dell, I think. I mean, that's always... I'm happy with that. To have the same points as Christopher Dell, you know you have done something good, so I'm super happy with that. Despite wearing the golden bib, the French rookie, Meil Olivier, had said that he wasn't feeling the weight of expectation that comes with leading the Freeride World Tour rankings. The proof, however, would be in the way he skied. He took off in the same direction as Tester, Turdell, Bacred and Carl Regner Ericsson before him. Would he succumb to the temptation of the eagle? He certainly looked like he was turning in, but then that right turn set him up for something completely different. Coming on to one of the most exposed areas of the face, he looked for a double between these rocks. Unfortunately, he leant back. Ross Tester would be crowned winner of his second event in 2021. Came out to have fun and worked out, yes. So Ericsson and Turdell have to share third on the podium. Bacred takes another second place, but the top step again belongs to the American rookie. It's going to be interesting. I don't like wearing the golden bib because I think it's bad luck. Yeah, I mean, I'm stoked to get on the back and go try that out. I've always wanted to ski it, try and put in some freestyle and good skiing work. In the overall, former Tour Leader Mayel Olivier drops down to fourth. Turdell jumps up to share the second spot with Rene Bacred Ross Tester will ride in the golden bib in Verbier. Isaac Freeland did it last year. Can another rookie do the unthinkable this year? The Swedish big mountain mafia will certainly have a say. The ski women will go next, so let's take a look back at Andorra and see what's happened so far. Hedwig Vessel dropped a lot of jaws, pulling off a huge backflip at her first run of the season. It's a kick and I like that. She took an emphatic win in the absence of last year's overall winner, Ariana Tricomi. But did she take too much confidence into event number two? It went wrong right from the drop-in. It was quite the opposite for Elizabeth Gerritsen. She started with disappointment in event one losing a ski for no obvious reason and getting a DNF as a result. But she stayed mentally strong. Going big in event two, chucking a 360 to devastating effect. Honestly, I learned how to do proper threes this year. I'm super stoked to pull it out today. She took the win and was back in the game. But it's Juliette Willman who sits atop the rankings, runner-up twice in Andorra. She is proof that consistency is queen. First to start is last year's fever broom winner and overall champion Ariana Tricomi who decided to skip the first two events in Andorra. Me, I think this was the right winter to kind of take some time off and work on different aspects of skiing, like learning new tricks. And I'm mega happy I spent more time doing backflips because it's something that I wanted to do my whole ski time but then I ended up doing other stuff. Conditions, unfortunately, didn't look really, really good in Andorra so that was definitely one reason why I decided to not go. And the other one was that I got the chance to film some projects that I've been actually dreaming about for a longer time in my beautiful Dolomite, so my backyard. And so yeah, I decided to do that instead but watching them come from the couch was definitely really hard. I don't have a plan yet about my line because conditions look bad and it's really hard to tell where the good snow is or the good lines. Last year for me I got here and I knew exactly where I wanted to ski. I won. I couldn't believe it. At the end I also won the world title after the win here so that was a crazy end of the season. This year this line doesn't work which makes it interesting but since I didn't compete on the first two comps I'm not really going for the world title this year. I'm just here for the vibes and the family and maybe you'll see me next year on the tour again with some more tricks. Hopefully. Despite not being a contender for the world championship in 2021 Ariana Trichomi was still drawing all of the attention because people were desperate to see what she'd been up to and whether she was still sharp when wearing a bib. She dropped in and there was that classic Ariana Trichomi style very, very graceful, smooth turns but she headed out to the far right-hand side of the venue. She was drawn like a magnet to the Marcus Eda kicker and she certainly wasn't shy on her speed over that. She cut up high onto the right-hand side of the face and threaded a double. She then used the hip over some of the shrubbery and headed back to the far right-hand side of the shoot. The transition was very, very tight. It kicked herself forward and we got the uncharacteristic side of Ariana Trichomi falling. Unfortunately I kind of crashed but recovered and skied on but obviously that's just not the best point. The snow was very variable, quite hard to ski actually and also after the tracks. It was actually quite hard to stay on our feet. I'm happy about some cliffs that I hit and part of the game too crash and yeah, all good. Next up was the American Tracy Chubb who managed to get a solid run from top to bottom which put her in the hot seat. Like Trichomi before her, Elizabeth Gerritsen, winner of the last event in Andorra also got caught in the tricky snow. For us there's a bit of a low visibility and very variable snow and then I landed I think in like what we call a death cookie and I kind of caught my ski and then I tumbled. Hedwig Vessel has exploded into the 2021 season. You could see that she was brimming with confidence in Andorra but a fall in that second event might have dented that confidence. The verdict would be the way she approached this run on the Vildsee loader. Any educated observer would have bet good money that Hedwig would head straight to the Marcus Ederjump that had seen all of the comms biggest trick so far but she didn't. Instead she followed the fall line into the most exposed zone and in doing so the former Olympic mogulski approved that she is becoming increasingly comfortable in exposed steep terrain. In her approach to the cliff she was maybe a little hesitant but her landing and control were incredibly strong. Skiing carefully at the bottom of the face she had great strategy that ensured she got a score on the board and would guarantee her a spot in Verbier. I mellowed it down a little bit. I went for one big cliff but then took it pretty easy everywhere else because it was so difficult for this snow and I really wanted to land a run. A score of 73.33 would put her in the hot sea and guarantee her that place in the finals and of course put her one step closer to the title. Susanna Vietik has had a decent start to her Freeride World Tour career with a fourth and fifth in Andorra but she was sat in sixth overall in the standings coming into this event just outside the qualifying spots so she had to put down a decent performance here to keep her season alive. Having dropped first in both of the Andorra events she had the benefit of being the seventh skier to drop here. Whether that played a part as anyone's guess but she looked strong and relaxed from the off heading far skiers right she played with the ridge and the chute linking three smaller features with style she then cut high and to the right finding an original line she kept it moving through the steep terrain above a cliff band she then kept it exposed by doubling back into this area it's the steep terrain on the left side of the chute and if she was nervous about the compulsory cliff at the bottom of this terrain it didn't show doubling the exit she let the skis run but rather than playing it safe like Hedwig Wessel she headed straight to the final cliff band that has a notoriously flat landing the takeoff needs to be angled just right to catch that little landing there but she did it with ease a very, very solid run from the Polish rider who plies her trade in Switzerland would it be enough for the lead? 74.67 Zuzanowicic would take the win so Arianna Trikomi ended up in fourth ahead of tour leader Juliet Wilma but is Zuzanowicic taking her first ever win on the tour? It's just unreal it's like it's really amazing I was just dreaming before to be at podium at least once and to stand on the top spot it's just crazy I'm super, super happy and stoked The top five women are qualified to go to the final Verbier local Elizabeth Gerritsen just makes the cut with Norway's Hedwig Wessel moving to the top of the leaderboard again For the girls it's super tight with the title and now I get the government back which is super cool but it's a high level in the girls this year so it's going to be tight that's cool, it's cool that you need to fight And that is exactly what the Beck De Ross will demand from the women a fight We're approaching the end of the competition and the final category to drop are the snowboard women but who can conquer the Vildsi Loda? Women's category, the three-time world champ Marion Haerti continued her dominance in 2021 winning both events in Andorra and taking home maximum points asserting a clear lead over the rest of the field I tried to have fun and it was fun to ride to be here with the friends Behind the French women are Erika Vikander and Katie Anderson A win here in Austria would make it a third in three events in 2021 and deliver Marion Haerti her fourth world title with an event to spare Marion has proved time and again why she is untouchable in this category and this line was yet another example of the riding skill that has made her so dominant Zero hesitation in one of the steepest areas on the Vildsi Loda She blasted through this pinch and was able to exit at speed You'd be forgiven for thinking that in Marion's position she could sit back and rest on her laurels In fact, this line was quite the opposite a hair-raising run where she kept her foot flat to the floor all the way down Even as the snow started to deteriorate down here she kept good style and good control It was a huge risk in some very very dangerous snow but Marion kept it redlined and when she arrived in the finish corral it was clear that Marion had set a target that would be asking the rest of the field to step a long, long way out of their comfort zone if they hoped to better her My run was about to go fast and steep The snow was really weird this year but I managed the couloirs I made two different couloirs, it was super fun I think I can be better on my run but today was sketchy The judges are offering up 73 points flat for Marion's run Not insurmountable but in these conditions a very very big challenge The 2018 world champion Manuel Amandla has been recovering from a niggling ankle injury this season so is trying to temper her ambitions She'd failed it in the second event and went for a big technical drop and went down hard but she's done well to get back for this event She was never going to miss the chance to compete on home snow though and she knows this face so well Opting for the same starters Marion she charged into that same very very steep area of the face and set about the same couloir Unlike Marion though she pointed it over the rocks here and found herself on her heel edge heading towards that rock wall Somehow she was able to control it But it broke up the flow of what was shaping up to be a very very strong line Tracking to the left into fresh snow she found another drop that fed her onto the apron Nerves built for Marion Hayati in the finish area If any of the other ladies which is behind me is better than me right now then I do not make the cut to Derby so it was super tight and that's why I also it was such a mentally hard run because I knew I had to stay on my feet regardless A solid performance very strong up top which as she said when she arrived she stayed on her feet which was the maximum she could do It was to be a nervous wait Marion Hayati was still in the hot seat Winning today would mean not just the overall title but also writing history by being the first person ever to win the Freeride World Tour four times But even the experience to Erika Vikander couldn't stop the French force measure from taking it all She deserves a fourth world title she kicked all her asses all year so So Erika Vikander takes third spot Manuel Amando did hold on to second place but looking at the scores it's clear Marion Hayati is in a league of her own I'm pretty happy, it's crazy I'm not the best person to be confident about myself and to have another world title it's just so nice, so good I'm happy Marion Hayati is unstoppable and takes the overall win with an event to spare but Vikander and Anderson are tied on points so that fight will go down to the wire A well deserved moment of celebration for Marion Hayati who makes it an unprecedented four world titles