
The race for this season’s FIS Crystal Globes just got a lot more interesting! That’s because Birk Ruud took first place in Men’s Freeski Slopestyle at the FIS World Cup in Tignes, France this weekend.
And just like that, the 21-year-old from Baerum, Norway, rose to the top of the overall International Ski Federation (FIS) Freeski season standings with 286 points. On the Slopestyle World Cup rankings, he’s now second with 200 points and taking aim at current leader Andri Ragettli sitting in first with 250 points.
This weekend’s win comes on the heels of Birk’s Freeski Big Air gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He also won the slopestyle World Cup season opener in Stubai last October, so it’s safe to say that the Norwegian ripper is on a roll right now.
On the freeski calendar, Tignes is always a premium treat. The high-altitude ski resort in the French Alps has been hosting World Cup events for 42 years, not to forget events like the European Winter X Games. The course set-ups are always top-notch, and the best riders show up when it’s time to throw down.
This year, Tignes was the second to last slopestyle World Cup of the season. So the resort near the Italian border was poised for some epic battles for points toward those coveted Crystal Globes.