Sometimes, it helps to have some home field advantage.
French snowboarders Enzo Nilo and Marion Haerty surely felt that way on January 29, 2025. The duo took home first place finishes for the men’s and women’s divisions of the Freeride World Tour’s stop at Val Thorens.
Haerty’s score of a 95 put her way out in front of the rest of the field. She gave herself a boarder cross-style push out of the start gate, and proceeded to fly down the upper portion of the course with considerable speed. She sent a couple of massive straight airs off of rock faces, and executed exemplary board control as she made her way to the lower portion of the mountain.
Noemy Equy finished in second place on the women’s side of the contest. She is 25 years old, and made her debut to the FWT after establishing herself as an all-terrain vehicle on the FIS circuit. Since 2014, she has competed in big air, slopestyle, halfpipe, and even snowboard cross on the competitive circuit.
Check out the full FWT Val Throens Pro replay below.
The course truly made the event a home game for Equy, who finished with a score of 88.33. The crowd’s cheers could be heard on the broadcast as she opened up her run with a straight air.
“When she checked into the hotel, she walked there,” the announcers said at the start of the race. “We’ve got to wonder if she is feeling the pressure of that home crowd. It certainly does not look like it.”
Equy flew through the upper portion of the mountain, before stomping a few straight airs. Though she is only a rookie, she rode with the confidence of a veteran.
Spanish rider Núria Castan Baron finished in third place.
Nilo started his ride off with a bang, pulling off a 360 and then a wild cat before bombing and slashing down the mountain into the rock face area in the lower section of the face. A straight air later, he tossed a butter backside 360 off a rock face to cap off his run. It was a huge win, as Nilo didn’t even grace the podium in the first contest of the season.
Victor de le Rue finished in eighth place, a far cry from his top finish in Spain weeks earlier. He started his run with a backside 360 and a backflip, but fell after losing his frontside edge while trying to drop in off a rockface and landing on his belly. He immediately tried to redeem himself off of another rockface, but also tomahawked on that hit as well.
Switzerland’s Rémi Benamo finished in second place, and American Michael Mawn came in third.
Original Post from this site