At the final stop of the Freeride World Tour in Verbier, all competing riders of the Freeride World Tour gathered together to look through video footage and voted for two riders, one male and one female, who they thought made the most impressive run over the five FWT contests.
Two snowboarders won the “Nissan Riders Award for Best Line”. Freeride World Champion Xavier de le Rue won the male category for his exceptional run at Le Buet during the Swatch O'Neill Big Mountain Pro and drive off proudly with a brand new Nissan Navara. Freeride World Champion Ruth Leisabach won the female award for her run this weekend in Verbier and is now the lucky owner of a Nissan Xtrail.
The very first edition of the Freeride World Tour has since mid January consisted of five contests around the world; in Mammoth USA, Sochi, Russia, mobile in the Alps, in Tignes, France and finally this weekend in Verbier, Switzerland. During the events the riders have been judged based on three criteria: choice of line, control and fluidity, which can be summed up to one criteria: General Impression.
Head organiser of the Freeride World Tour and the 13 editions of the Xtreme in Verbier, Nicolas Hale-Woods, is thrilled to have successfully completed the first edition of the Tour: “It has been a great challenge to organise the first ever Freeride World Tour with the best skiers and snowboarders in the world, in some of the most well known resorts. The feedback from the riders is great. They are happy to see the progression of their sport both from a sportive point of view and with the growing public interest internationally as well as media wise. Some of the biggest challenges have certainly been to organise events at numerous locations around the planet, and the difficult snow and weather conditions this winter. The winter is very short, we organised seven events from mid January to mid March and travelled from one venue to the other. But meeting other cultures is also very motivating. We really look forward to organising next year’s tour and go to new exciting destinations around the world.”
FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2008 - FINAL RANKINGS
SKI MEN
1 - WINDSTEDT - Henrik - SWE - 7200 pts
2 - MICHAUD - Seb - FRA - 6900
3 – DUCROZ (NISSAN) - Aurélien - FRA – 6400
SKI FEMALE
1 - SAUGSTAD - Elyse - USA - 6000 pts
2 - MC MILLAN - Jesse - USA - 5400
3 - PERSSON (NISSAN) - Marja - SWE – 5000
SNOWBOARD MEN
1 - DE LE RUE - Xavier - FRA - 7000 pts
2 - COUDRAY - Alex - SUI - 6900
3 - ORLEY - Flo - AUT - 6700
4 - NERI (NISSAN) - Cyril - SUI – 6600
15 – STENTIFORD (NISSAN) - James - UK - 2100
SNOWBOARD FEMALE
1 - LEISIBACH - Ruth - SUI - 5600 pts
2 - MOROC - Bérengère - FRA - 5400
3 - PALH - Elizabeth - RUS – 4600
5 – FASNACHT (NISSAN) - Géraldine - SUI – 3300
