French Freestyle Star Candide Thovex gets 2nd At the Second Stage of the Freeride World Tour
Chamonix again provided the thrills of freeride, hosting the second stage of the Freeride Tour: the Nissan Russian Adventure by Swatch, initially planned to take place in Sochi/Russia, but moved to Chamonix for security reasons and difficult weather conditions. Only the men skiers and snowboarders took part of today’s contest, at the north east face of Aiguille Pourrie at the Flégère ski area. With an extremely high performance level, Frenchmen Julien Lopez and Xavier de Le Rue took victory. The multiple X-Games medallist skier Candide Thovex FRA and snowboarder Mitch Toelderer AUT are now at the top of the Freeride World Tour Ranking.
Chamonix again provided the thrills of freeride, hosting the second stage of the Freeride Tour: the Nissan Russian Adventure by Swatch, initially planned to take place in Sochi/Russia, but moved to Chamonix for security reasons and difficult weather conditions. Only the men skiers and snowboarders took part of today’s contest, at the north east face of Aiguille Pourrie at the Flégère ski area. With an extremely high performance level, Candide Thovex finished second and Frenchmen Julien Lopez took victory.
The multiple X-Games medallist skier Candide Thovex is now at the top of the Freeride World Tour Ranking. Once again Candide showed us a very playful line, bouncing down the mountain. He took a more obvious line than Lopez and did not take the highest jumps but he was super fluid and executed all his airs with more speed and landed further down than the other competitors. In the end of the run he pulled off a perfect 360° (a complete rotation), taking about 20 metres of distance in the air, really spectacular!
World's best surfers fly in for ASP World Tour kick-off
Wax heads and surfing fans get excited - the world's best surfers are headed to the Gold Coast as two of the biggest surfing events kick start the 2010 ASP Men's and Women's World Tours next month. From 26th February through to 10th March, the 2010 Quiksilver Pro presented by Land Rover and the Roxy Pro will take place on the southern end of the Gold Coast's iconic point break of Snapper Rocks.
This year's Quiksilver Pro presented by Land Rover will feature the world's top 45 ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) surfers including the likes of reigning two-time World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS) and current world number two and hometown hero Joel Parkinson (AUS). Nine-time World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) is the only non-Australian to have won the Quiksilver Pro (twice), and looks to be a top threat in the 2010 competition. Surfing sensation Julian Wilson (AUS) surprised the crowd last year when he knocked out Kelly Slater and will no doubt be looking to do the same again this year as he competes as a wildcard.
Snapper Rocks is one of the most beautiful beaches in Australia, so even if you're not a crazed surfing fan, why not head to the Gold Coast to support the Aussies competing and even get the chance to meet your favourite surfer! The Quiksilver Pro is a free event, it will be packed full of entertainment such as a celebrity surf event and stacks of other goodies - so go on, grab your boardies and don't miss out on the best beachside event of the year!
The Quiksilver Pro provides fans with four days of action-packed surfing, and to make sure the events have the best surf conditions, organisers allow for a 12 day waiting period, so you can guarantee the barrels will be huge!
This year, event organisers are predicting a fierce level of competition, and the ASP judges will analyse the surfers on their commitment and degree of difficulty, innovation and progressive maneuvers, combination of major maneuvers, variety of maneuvers and speed, power and flow when scoring waves in each heat.
For those who can't make it to the beach, the event will be webcast live from various camera angles and will include post event interviews with the world's elite surfers.
JAMES STENTIFORD WINS 3RD PLACE AT THE WORLD FREERIDE TOUR, CHAMONIX
JAMES STENTIFORD COMES 3RD AT THE SNOWBOARD WORLD FREERIDE TOUR, CHAMONIX 2010.
Congratulations to Quiksilver Team Manager and Pro Snowboarder, James Stentiford, who came 3rd at the World Freeride Tour this year at Chamonix. James decided to enter the contest on a whim. He needed something to do that day...
"After two years of not competing I thought I should have another crack as the World Freeride Tour was coming to my home resort of Chamonix. As luck would have it they offered me a wild card into the event. Conditions were pretty perfect on the day, a load of new snow, beautiful sunshine and very cold. I felt pretty relaxed about it all until we heard on the radio that a skier had crashed and hurt himself. After an hour delay in the freezing cold it was finally time for my run. I was pretty happy with my run even though it didn't work out exactly as I planned due to the changing snow conditions. I managed to stay pretty fluid and do a backside three, a stalefish over a natural hip and then hit a medium sized cliff at the bottom. I didn't hang around to watch the other riders as the snow conditions were so good so didn't really have an idea of how I'd done. So I was pretty stoked when they announced the result.
I've now been invited to the next event which is being held this Thursday. I guess I'll have to put off retirement for another year!"
French Freestyle Star Candide Thovex takes victory at his first FWT contest
Copyright: Nissan Freeride Chamonix Mont Blanc 2010 D Carlier
Against the beautiful backdrop of the Mont-Blanc, French Freestyle icon Candide Thovex took his first win in a Freeride World Tour event in Chamonix on 31st of January.
The 50 best freeriders on the planet put on an amazing performance in perfect weather conditions on the 500 metre “Pentes de l’Hôtel” face at the Brévent ski area in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, despite challenging snow conditions.
The most impressive run of the day was the clean victory of French freestyle legend Candide Thovex, debuting in freeride contests, announcing a promising future. After the last few days’ of snowfall the blue skies finally presented a dream like arena for the athletes and spectators of the Freeride de Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. However, the snow conditions where tricky for the competitors. A lot of the fresh powder was taken down by the first riders and parts of the face exposed rock hard snow, and at times ice. Control was decisive.
Event winner was the famous French freestyler Candide Thovex’s first Freeride World Tour contest, and with his explosive run he secured a solid victory. Thovex chose a unique line down the face, literally flying through the course at full speed, stomping several solid cliff jumps, cheered on by the excited Chamonix spectator crowd. Swedish Kaj Zackrisson is one of the veterans on the tour, and a Chamonix local since 10 years.
“I couldn’t sleep very well last night as I wasn’t really sure of my line, and I felt a lot of pressure this morning. But I went up early and got a good vision of the course. I looked for good snow and a line I could enjoy. I spotted some nice Alaska-like spines with great snow! I chose not to do some tricks and to focus on fluidity. I wanted to come down safe and sound. It has been really cool and the atmosphere is great, which was very motivating at the start. I am really happy of the victory and to share the podium with my friend Tim Dutton who soon will be at his home town in Squaw Valley. I am really motivated for the coming events!” Candide Thovex said.
2 weeks after an amazing win at Reb Bull Linecatcher in Vars (Freestyle/freeride mix event), and several years after his last contests, Candide Thovex is definitely back to business. Watch out.
The French Quiksilver team rider Jérémy Florès arrived in Australia at the beginning of the week to prepare for the first event of the ASP World Tour 2010, The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast. A foot injury at the end of the 2009 season forced Jeremy to miss the last three World Tour Events (Mundaka in Spain, Peniche in Portugal and Hawaii). In spite of the injury, Jérémy Florès did not need to rely on an "injury wild card", succeeding in requalifying himself for the elite Tour in 2010 by results alone. An amazing feat.
After a long break at the end of the year, Jérémy Florès has recharged his batteries, without taking a break from physical training. The Frenchman returned to the water with renewed enthusiasm in the Canary Islands in early January. Here are his thoughts on his recovery and his return to his fourth season amongst the World’s Top 45 surfer.
"I'm really glad to be able to get back in the water, my foot is feeling good. The time out of the water enabled me to prepare well physically for the new season and I’ve done things that I wouldn’t normally have time to do, therefore, I’ve taken positive experiences from this injury. I’ve felt great from this quick trip to the Canaries, it went well, because I needed to spend a lot of time in the water. I really pushed myself and I‘m super motivated to take on this new season!"
The Quiksilver Team surfer will train on the Australia’s Gold Coast until the opening event of the ASP World Tour 2010, the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, which runs from February 27th to March 10th. Jérémy must also join the French surfing team for a few days of training in Australia.
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