Top Moments 2019/20: Freestyle
Apr 15, 2020·Freestyle
If you follow our channels on social media, you might have seen that for the last two weeks we’ve been regularly posting our #topmements clips from the 2019/20 FIS Freestyle Ski & Freeski World Cup seasons. Today we published the final episode, just to gather them all up in one place here to have a one more look into the most memorable spells of these past freeski, freestyle ski and ski cross World Cup campaigns. Enjoy!
This week we’re looking back at the most memorable moments of the 2019/20 FIS Freestyle & Freeski World Cup season, and we’re kicking things off today at the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup in Sunny Valley. There, Sandra Naeslund was the star in one of the most spectacular crashes of the season over the final jump of her semi final heat, only to get right back in the start gate for the small final, where she won the heat to take fifth-place on the day in an incredible show of grit. #fisfreestyle #skicross #sandranaeslund #topmoments
Our next top moment of the 2019/20 World Cup season brings us to one of the most impressive resurgences in recent memory. After mostly stepping away from competition for two seasons to focus on other pursuits, Gus Kenworthy shocked the freeski world last fall by announcing his switch from the US team to Great Britain, with the intention of competing in all three freeski competitions at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. A few months after that announcement came Kenworthy’s return to World Cup competition, where he dropped in on the season finale in Calgary and stomped this four-hit banger for his first World Cup halfpipe victory in over four years, showing us all he’s still got what it takes to stand amongst the world’s best. #fisfreestyle #halfpipe #guskenworthy #topmoments
There is perhaps no more exciting moment in freestyle skiing right now than when Mikael Kingsbury and Ikuma Horishima line up alongside each other in the start gate of a dual moguls competition, and today’s #topmoment of 2019/20 is the best example of that from this past season. From Kingsbury’s 1440 at the top, to the way both skiers take it to the very edge of control through the middle section, to the way Horishima speeds away from the second jump…the absolute ferocity that these two attacked the piste in the big final heat from Almaty (KAZ) is still insane to watch every time you queue this clip back up. Ikuma won this one, but you know Mik will have an answer for that next season… #fisfreestyle #moguls #dualmoguls
Near-perfection in the air and a landing so stomped you lose your glasses, to take the win on home soil? Usually it doesn’t get much better than that, but when you throw in the fact that it was his first World Cup victory in over eight years and his first podium in more than five years, you really appreciate just how incredible Pavel Krotov’s performance in Moscow was, and why it ranks amongst the 2019/20 season’s #topmoments… #fisfreestyle #aerials #pavelkrotov
The first-ever freeski competition at the future home of big air competition for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games was an incredible one from start to finish - but especially so for the Norwegian squad. There, at the Air + Style Beijing, Johanne Killi and Birk Ruud were pure perfection on the world’s first permanent big air venue, each taking wins to sweep the top of the podium for Norge and earn their place amongst the #topmoments of the 2019/20 World Cup season. #fisfreestyle #fisfreeski #bigair #airandstyle #birkruud #johannekilli
An athlete’s first World Cup victory is always a big deal - the culmination of a lifetime of training, dedication, and hard work. Some firsts stand out a little bit more than others, however, and @krismahler’s maiden SX win in Val Thorens this season was one of them. After battling through nearly two years of injury and missing all of the 2018/19 season, Mahler was masterful in France to take top spot in just his second race back in the gates on one of the World Cup’s toughest courses. Already one of the most inspirational stories of the year, when you throw in the emotions of the entire Canadian team mobbing him in the finish area, you’ve got one of our 2019/20 World Cup #topmoments… #fisfreestyle #skicross #krismahler
With both the women’s and men’s races for the 2019/20 aerials crystal globes coming down to the wire, both of the frontrunners rose to the occasion at the final event of the season, shouldering the pressure to claim not only the competition victories in Krasnoyarsk but, for both Laura Peel and Noe Roth, their first career crystal globes titles. Peel closed out her season with back-to-back wins to give the Flying Kangaroos their tenth crystal globe title in FIS Freestyle history, while for 19-year-old Roth his first career World Cup victory came at the perfect moment to give the Swiss their first aerials title in 14 years. 2019/20 #topmoment-worthy, indeed. #fisfreestyle #aerials #laurapeel #noeroth
The story behind this one is pretty simple: on February 1, 2020, Aaron Blunck put down one of the greatest halfpipe runs in freeski history, stomping five dubs, earning a score of 97.20 and taking the victory on home soil at Mammoth Mountain. If this doesn’t qualify as a #topmoment of 2019/20, nothing does. #fisfreestyle #freeski #halfpipe #aaronblunck
The Destne Soldiers big air World Cup in the Czech Republic was straight up one of the most insane competitions we’ve ever seen. When seven out of 11 riders in the finals stomped a trick scoring above 90 on their first run, we knew it was gonna be gnarly. However, the icing on that crazy cake came when France’s @antoine_adelisse stomped a switch pre-nose grab triple cork 1440 for a score of 98.00 to help earn the first World Cup victory of his career 🥇 While we wish the World Cup season didn’t have to end there, you couldn’t have asked for a more epic way for it to close, and for that Adelisse earns a spot in 2019/20 #topmoments🕺🏾🤩 #fisfreestyle #freeski #bigair #antoineadelisse
Imagine being 15 years old, two continents away from home, and set to make your World Cup debut against moguls skiing’s very best on one of the most famed venues in the sport. Then, imagine making your way to a superfinal stacked with crystal globe winner, world champions, and Olympic gold medallists, and putting down THIS run to earn second place and your first World Cup podium in your very first attempt. Japan’s @anri_kawamura did just that at the season-opener in Ruka for an incredible start to a 2019/20 season that would see her finish with Rookie of the Year honours and a spot in our #topmoments of the winter. #fisfreestyle #moguls #anrikawamura
From the start of the 2016/17 season until January of this year @andriragettli went 21 World Cup competitions without missing the top-10 - while earning an incredible 14 podiums in those 21 events - before failing to make the finals at the Seiser Alm Legends World Cup in Italy and finishing in 16th place. So how did he respond to that disappointment? Oh, only by claiming clinical back-to-back victories in Mammoth Mountain and Calgary, taking control of the top of the standings, and walking away with the 2019/20 FIS Freeski Slopestyle World Cup crystal globe.The crystal globe win was the fourth of Ragettli’s career, putting him in sole possession of top spot all time for freeskiers in World Cup history, and giving us an epic addition to our 2019/29 #topmoments rundown. #fisfreestyle #fisfreeski #slopestyle #andriragettli
Today we wrap up our 2019/20 #topmoments series with a fitting ender, as we look back at a history-making performance in Calgary that will go down as one of the greatest two-day FIS Freeski World Cup showings of all time. Fresh off of a three-medal performance at the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games, @eileen_gu_ rolled into the Calgary Snow Rodeo on a high. However, she would leave Calgary riding even higher, winning the halfpipe competition on Friday night and then switching gears immediately to show up to take the slopestyle victory on Saturday morning. In the process, Gu became the first freeskier ever to win back-to-back competitions in two different events at the same venue, putting her name in the freeski history books for the first of what could be many times. #fisfreestyle #slopestyle #halfpipe #eileengu
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