NZSkier.com - Magazine, Video, Web

25th January 2012

Kiwi Freeskier Sam Smoothy astonished crowds today with his impressive win at the 2^nd stop of the Swatch Freeride World Tour in Chamonix today. He walked away $8,000USD richer and donned a smile beaming modest glory.

Sam Smoothy First Place  Photo Credit Aidan Bolger - The Daily Dump Snow Report

The Swatch Freeride World Tour took place at Le Brevents famous Hotel Face boasting untouched powder after a large dump of snow over the weekend. The venue had tricky and technical natural features, yet variable visibility from low cloud cover and warmer conditions created an extra challenge for the riders.

Smoothy started his run with a huge drop into the main coulior, then flew across the bowl to line up for the popular double-cliff drop that stood centre stage.  In classic Smoothy style he opened up the throttle for full-on, no-fear speed and flew off both cliffs with control and velocity. 

Because I had a late bib number (47) I had to ride aggressively to clear the holes in the landings riders had created before me. I call it movie-style skiing.  My heroes ski fast and thats what I wanted to re-create Sam explained after his run.

Sam Smoothy Above the Double Cliff Drop   Photo Credit - Aidan Bolger - The Daily Dump Snow Report

Smoothy has battled through qualifiers and injuries over the last few seasons proving that persistence always pays off.

Event organiser and founder Nicolas Hale-Woods claimed, he was one of the best of the day for sure and Im super happy for him. He deserves to have a smile in the finish area today.

The Kiwis continued to turn up the heat with Janina Kuzma taking out 3^rd place and $1500USD in the Womens Freeski competition. She kept her run fluid and fast stomping two decent drops.

I was really happy to stay on my feet expressed Kuzma. Its the second stop on the tour and Ive had two solid runs so far. Yeah, Im stoked.

Kiwi shredder Neil Williman also competed in the mens Freeski event today, but was visibly uncomfortable due to a back injury sustained only 5 days earlier from filming in Austria.  He was not so lucky in his run and got misplaced above the double cliff drop and chose to take a smaller section of the second drop giving him a place of 16^th.  

I was disappointed with how I went today, but this is only my 5^th run after hurting myself, so it was just good to stay on my feet. Williman explained.

Maria Kuzma represented NZ for womens snowboard choosing a safe line due to the flat light and busted a couple of tidy airs granting her 6^th place.  I felt like I was a bit weak and I was not riding as fast as I wanted to. But for my first big competition I was happy to stay on my feet and am stoked

Kiwi Riders Turning Up The Heat   Photo Credit Aidan Bolger - The Daily Dump Snow Report

The Swatch Freeride World Tour now moves on to Italy with a quick transit to Courmayeur-Mont-Blanc for the third men's ski and snowboard contest of the season.