CRAZY PERFORMANCE! Snow Women Winning Runs I FWT Highlights 2025

Rookie here, ready to go for France, riding regular foot out of Val Thoreau. So she's going to be going home for the next event. Another rider studying under Marion Oerti from just gaining that experience and another rider very comfortable in extremely steep and consequential terrain. And she's so strong in terrain, which is really impressive because her background is slope style. So she's got that steep, really technical riding, but I think we're going to see a lot of tricks out of her this season. Yeah, riding on the French freestyle team. So she's really comfortable in the air, comfortable in this kind of terrain as well. And you know, I think sometimes the freestyle riders are a bit under, whoa, a 360 in the middle of the face. Little splash of powder there, probably stuck it. So Noemi, with a real strong start to this, pulling a trick in the most consequential part of the face and just controlling her speed. You know, when you get that board pointed down for too long, the speed comes up so quickly. It's really, really steep up there. Yeah, we saw even Victor in this section, really struggling to keep that speed under control, really having to rely on that heel side edge. And she's making these beautiful arcing turns all the way down. Yes, another air to finish off the couloir. Holding strong, you see that strength, you see that preparation she has in the gym really paying off here. Now this lower section of the face, the intensity ramps up quickly. There's a big feature underneath Noemi now as she's gonna move across. And getting right over top, popping directly over the rocks, controlling the speed again. Great board control. I was saying some slope style athletes, I think are a bit underappreciated for how good they are on their edges and how technical. Catching another one there. So really ramping up the line score and bringing some speed into the run. Exactly, this is a fast run, it's a committed run. And it's a really fluid run from the French rider. You can see some parts of the snowpack kind of glowing there. A lot of different snow conditions. Noemi just dodging that rock on the bottom, getting on the toe side, pointing herself towards that three-ride world tour finish arch as she is almost there and she's through the finish, down and safe. A strong run from the young French rookie, Noemi Aki. As the judges have spoken, the score coming in, and it's up at 76, the rookie into first. A huge hug for her good friend, Anna Martinez. Now the mental game here of going for Noemi, going up against her mentor, and for Marianne Airty going against her mentee. Marianne has four world titles. She has a natural selection overall to her title. She's back in the start gate for the first time. And look at how intense she is. A border cross pole start for Marianne Airty right out of the gate and into it. Dropping in onto her toe side edge, lining up that first cliff that's gotten quite a bit of traffic, being really smart about the speed and control. Coming out of it, no problem. Huge powder clouds. Fastest rider we've seen so far. Yeah, no hesitation off that first big drop. Only one we've seen take that one on is Audrey Hebert, and now Marianne Airty. This is the score she has to beat if she wants to beat her protege, Marianne. With full intensity, she has got so much speed. You can just see it ramping up as she moves down. Right off the nose again, disappearing into the snow, but such control of her board. The queen is back, and she is showing exactly why she has those four titles. You know, Marianne does so much for women's snowboarding, but this reminds everyone that she's still the top. Oh, and look at this. She's got a big feature underneath her. Moving over on the heel side edge, locking in on her angle, right off the top. Marianne Airty landing that one perfectly. Again, the crowd is going absolutely bananas out here. We have a French woman sitting in the hot seat. We have a French snowboard royalty on the face, popping with the grab. Marianne Airty showing exactly why she has four world titles under her belt. Incredible moments here at the Freeride World Tour. Well, monstre bon, that riding was perfect. She's such a strong competitor. She's such a strong snowboarder. Yeah, and you know, I don't want to speak for anyone, but if you're Noemi, and the only person that beats you is Marianne, you can, that's something you can be extremely proud of. As the score ramping up, 88 is the score. Marianne Airty returning to Freeride with authority. Incredible. Noemi Aki, the first one to come and hug her. As we make our way back to the top, this is Mikayla Davis-Meehan, the Aussie rider, full free spirit, embracing the van life, spending a ton of time in Revelstoke just over the pass. The other direction from where Audrey lives, the Rogers Pass. And Mikayla, the last time we were on Ozone, she won. So she is a huge threat here today. And lining up and air right out of that second start gate, and then making her way again, heelside over to that rocky traverse to get over and get into the meaty section of that rider's left side of the face, the big mountain face. Yeah, that view from behind really shows you just how exposed that traverse is for a snowboarder on their heelside edge. As Mikayla getting now set up above the first possible feature that she could hit and getting set now and into it well and truly, stomping the first air for Davis-Meehan. Yeah, finding a nice clean landing and making some quick turns as she moves over to her next feature. Let's see which way she's gonna take this one. Right off the nose, landing just shy of that tree, nice and perfect. Diving into a couple good deep pow turns there. Yeah, Mikayla's so strong on the heelside edge. You can tell she's been doing her squats and deadlifts as using the pressure of the legs to dig the board into the snow and slow herself down. And coming down now, this has proven to be a popular section in the snowboard women's category. Getting on that heelside, nice and patient. That was very well done there. And Mikayla Davis-Meehan doing a great job of that. A very fluid, solid run, top to bottom for the Aussie rider. All right, well, Mikayla catching her breath. The score coming in 81. Mikayla Davis-Meehan back to her old ways on Ozone with a banger run there. All right, 10 seconds for the golden bib holder, rookie on the tour, but riding like an absolute veteran, riding out of Chamonix, France. Noemi Aki is ready to go and kick off her campaign here for glory at the Georgia Pro. Heading out of the start gate. Noemi is a very serious competitor. She spent the summer in New Zealand. She's had a lot of time on her board and you can really see it paying off. Yeah, so solid over the board. Little bit of a heelside speed check there just to get the speed exactly right. And Noemi now coming across to get back to the central couloir with a perfect execution on that air. So she's back in the middle section of the venue after starting out riders left and looking really strong as expected, a little bit of a windlet feature, 360 there and clean. So Noemi adding the freestyle element to this. This is a banger so far. Not letting any feature go by without taking it, a little bit of a chunk out of it. And she's cruising down into this couloir. A few nice powder turns to take before she'll set up against this next block of pepper. You can see shades of her mentor in her riding. She rides a lot and works with Marion Airty. And Marion was another rider who would never let a feature go unhit. Little bit of a bobble there for Noemi as well. So snowboard women having similar issues that we saw the snowboard men having, where we have some great runs but with little hiccups in them, but really solid road. Noemi getting bounced and bucked. The in run for that windlet is a roller coaster. But Noemi, I don't know if she was planning on going to the windlet and ditched or if she was just planning on going up on the wall as she did, but it looked like she did that on purpose. Yeah, and adding the freestyle element. Noemi Akif, she was on the freestyle team for France. She's competed at Slopestyle. So she's really, really comfortable with those kind of movements and techniques. So the judges have had their say. Is it going to be enough? It is a 79 point run for the French rider, Noemi Akif. Recently moving to Val Thorens in France, she had a great showing at her home event. And Noemi Akif now looking to back up that performance. She's wearing the golden bib. That comes with, it comes with a lot. It comes with some confidence that you're doing great. It also comes with some pressure, as now all of a sudden your rookie season is starting to take the shape of potentially a championship season. Solid start here for Noemi Akif. She is going full speed. Probably the fastest we've seen any of the riders take on this part. Definitely making quick work of this venue. Nice air into this committed shoot again. She has exposure all below her, has to stay in control, make use of the venue, but also stay on her feet. And like you said, this is potentially a championship in the making for this French rider. So Noemi Akif, if she wins the FIBA Brune Pro, she will be world champion today. So she's got the pressure of that on her shoulders. And right now making her way in through this lower part, the closeout cool water. You can see the snow cascading over that air, over that cliff. As Noemi puts the board into the fall line and immediately back into control, using the heel side edge as a break. As Noemi still has more features below her. You know, we know she's worked with Marion Airty. Marion, the absolute master of leaving no feature undone. Oh, Noemi! Huge double, so strong, coming out with so much heat, right through all that terrain. Well, this is textbook riding. And Noemi Akif adding to the air and style with a 360 there and another feature. Absolutely stacking the line score points here. Noemi Akif now on the left side of the gully, but just on the left. Plenty of bushes, some air is available. We'll see what Noemi Akif can make. Finding a solid bottom section has been challenging for all categories so far, but Noemi keeping it moving. Fluidity absolutely jacked right now as she gets things in control and is moving solidly through. There's only one other track on the section of the face. So I think a really smart choice to move in this section. As she makes her way through the arch, safe and sound to the crore of the Austrian crowd. They love that run. So exciting. I mean, for the slope style rider, she is proving that she is at home in the steep and rocky big mountain venues. As now the score coming in, the judges comparing that run to the criteria and to that, and Mikayla, 83.33. Noemi Akif into first place. That is a massive, massive result. And her best friend, travel partner and riding buddy, Anna Martinez flying out there. Big hugs. And if the math is correct, this is her winning run. And we'll bring her into the overall champion no matter what happens in Verbier. We'll double check, wait for those numbers to come through. But what a run, full gas, full commitment. All right, well, there you have it. The pressure of the title is off, but she still feels the pressure of wanting to deliver her best performance on this face. That's what drives these riders. It's what fuels the fire that gives them the ability to do these superhuman things. And Noemi Akif, the Freeride World Tour champion is on the back. You can tell why she's champion already. Look at the pace that she had coming out of the start gate, moving so quickly. She's the rider that she can really move side to side on her board. She's so strong, making big sweeping turns like we've just seen full commitment in this really steep part of the venue. This has been one of the hallmarks of Noemi's riding all season long. Just the intensity that she goes out of the gate with. She keeps it moving. She keeps the pace going. Going off the nose of that feature, getting control immediately with the heel side edge. She has the big mountain chops. She comes from the freestyle background. She was on the French slope style team. So we've seen her delivering 360s across the season. And Noemi Akif now proving the big mountain chops that she has riding out of Val Thorens, France. And really, I mean, this view below her, it really tells the story of how intense this space is. It's so steep. It's so committing. And again, it's all about speed control here. You got to make your way through these features around these like really sharp rocks and be able to control that speed. Stay right on top of your board. Stay super square. So Noemi following the track that we saw from Ana Martinez earlier and making her way still down. A little bit of a pause there. Control is everything up on this face. She's been riding for a while, but she's still so high on the mountain and there's so much exposure below her. So keeping things in check is absolutely critical. And Noemi doing a masterful job of that so far. We can see her making her way down. There's this big looming double below her. As she lines up, popping one. Full release to the fall line. Noemi, he holds it. That was so committed. The judges said they want a commitment. Noemi just gave it to them on a platter. Full speed, full throttle approach. She had to line it up perfectly to have the trajectory and then executed it like a world champion. Exactly. You know, you saw her speaking to Geraldine this morning and I don't know if which icon was more impressed with which other icon. We saw that with Lily and in Fever Broom with Nadine and you could see it now, just the generations and how the women have just taken what has been done before them and then amplified it. We have the easy job. Everyone else has the hard job. Here comes the score coming in for the current champion. 89.67. So backing up her world title with a win in Verbier. Noemi Aki, she is very rapidly approaching legend status and she's only been on the tour for one season.