Colorado ski coach makes history at Freeride World Tour

Agostina Vietti made history at the second stop of the FIS Freeride World Tour (FWT) in France. The Ski and Snowboard Club Vail coach became the first Argentinian to win a FWT event in any category at the Val Thorens Pro stop on Monday.

“My run was amazing,” the skier told FWT media. “I’m so excited.”

Known for her powerful skiing and tight, ski-racing turns, Vietti went off the nose of the first drop and charged through the Pointe de Thorens’ steep upper section. The 28-year-old coupled a pair of airs into a tight left traverse. In the bottom section, she went cross court off a lip and then lined up confident turns in the ensuing steeps before going full-throttle through a narrow couloir.

Her run, which was one of the fastest in the women’s ski category, garnered a score of 77.33. Sybille Blanjean (74.33) finished second and American Wynter McBride (72.00) rounded out the podium.

“I did everything I wanted to,” Vietti said. “I had to skip a couple of things, but it worked well, so I’m stoked. I was not as stressed as I used to be before competing. I was taking things pretty well.”

Vietti qualified for the FWT via her second-place finish at the A-Basin Challenger Series event last April. That secured a runner-up placement in the overall standings, making her the first Argentinian woman to qualify for the FWT. She finished fourth at the FWT season opener earlier this month in Spain.

The brand new Pointe de Thorens venue was also kind to FWT rookie Joey Leonardo. The Edwards native sat in the hot seat for most of the morning. Leonardo popped off the ridgeline onto the 3,200-meter face and went to work in an exposed rocky section. The 22-year-old capped off a triple air combination with a nice 360, then linked a floaty backflip into a straight air off another cliff.

The 2020 FWT Junior winner wasn’t done, packing in another huge 360 off a blind lip into the course’s technical lower section. He posted a score of 89.00 to finish runner-up to New Zealand’s Ben Richards.

“I’m really happy that the weather turned around. It’s been pretty cloudy the last few days so for it to be bluebird and some fresh snow was really exciting,” Leonardo told FWT.

“I definitely improvised a little bit (today). The top section was what I thought, but after my last three (360), I had no plans of doing that backflip, so that was on the spot,” he continued after vaulting himself into fourth in the overall season standings. “I’m super happy to be where I’m at right now.”

Fellow American Ross Tester (84.33) placed third.

“The pressure was picking up throughout the day,” the Truckee native told FWT. “I started to get a little nervous, but ended up landing on my feet so I’m happy. I had a lot of different ideas going into this run. I really had to make a decision and stick with it, and I locked in and it worked out.”

Ten American athletes are currently competing on the FWT, with four hailing from Colorado. The U.S. claimed three podium finishes in Spain at the season-opening Baqueria Beret Pro on Jan. 15 and five in Val Thorens.

The FWT pro tour travels to Georgia for the third stop at the end of February. Fieberbrunn hosts the final event before the “Cut” in early March. After the Austrian event, riders are ranked by their top-3 performances, with only the top 60% advancing to the Finals in Haines, Alaska March 15-22 and Verbier, Switzerland March 28-April 5.

The inaugural FIS Freeride World Championships are also slated to take place Feb. 1-6 in Andorra. Vietti will compete for Argentina at the event, along with fellow Colorado-based athletes Michael Mawn, Kelly Hilleke and Blake Moller.