Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2023: Preview and stars to watch
From Anna Gasser to Birk Ruud, there will be freeski and snowboard Olympic champions galore on show at the world championships, which take place in the eastern European country of Georgia for the first time.
The eastern European nation of Georgia will host the Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships for the first time in 2023, from February 19 to March 5.
Standing 1,700m above sea level, the action will take place in the Bakuriani ski resort, on the northern slope of Trialeti Range, approximately three hours’ drive from capital city Tbilisi.
Competitions will be hosted at two different venues, Bakuriani-Didveli (halfpipe, big air, slopestyle, parallel giant slalom, ski and snowboard cross) and Kokhta-Mitarbi (aerials).
It will be a star-studded event, with reigning Winter Olympic champions like Anna Gasser, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Walter Wallberg, Mathilde Gremaud, and Hirano Ayumu locking horns with emerging new talent like Kirsty Muir, Gaon Choi, and Mac Forehand.
Below we take a look at the key storylines of the event, all the top names to watch out for, and more.
Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2023: Stars to watch
Freestyle skiing
First up in the aerials, keep an eye out for the United States’ reigning Olympic mixed team gold medallists Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis, and Justin Schoenefeld.
In the moguls, Olympic gold medallists Perrine Laffont (France) and Jakara Anthony (Australia) are the early women’s favourites, with silver medallist Jaelin Kauf (USA) also in the mix.
On the men’s side, Olympic gold medallists Walter Wallberg (Sweden), and Mikael Kingsbury (Canada) are the ones to watch, having both won recent World Cups.
Two-time Olympic champion David Wise is the men’s halfpipe favourite, having won his fifth X Games Aspen crown earlier this month.
It is yet to be seen if free ski superstars Ailing (Eileen) Gu (People’s Republic of China), and Kelly Sildaru (Estonia) will compete in Bakuriani, having both suffered training injuries at the X Games.
In their absence, Megan Oldham (Canada) took X Games big air and slopestyle gold, and will be full of confidence going into the world championships in both of those events.
She’ll have to be at her best to hold off Tess Ledeux (France), promising British youngster Kirsty Muir (Great Britain) and reigning slopestyle Olympic champion, Mathilde Gremaud (Switzerland).
The men’s slopestyle favourite is reigning X Games champion Colby Stevenson (USA), while big air Olympic champion Birk Ruud (Norway) and slopestyle Olympic champ Alex Hall (USA) will be hoping to rediscover their best form in both events. Also keep an eye out for USA’s Mac Forehand, who shocked the field to win big air gold at the X Games.
Snowboard
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (New Zealand) backed up her slopestyle Olympic gold medal in Beijing with X Games victory, and it would take a seismic effort to beat her in Georgia.
The Kiwi will also look to land a double in the big air, but that will be difficult to do with the likes of reigning double Olympic champion Anna Gasser (Austria), and X Games winner Iwabuchi Reira (Japan) also in the hunt.
In the men’s division will be similarly star-studded, with Mark McMorris (Canada) is odds on to take the slopestyle title having returned to peak form, and Marcus Kleveland (Norway) the stand out recent big air athlete. Also watch out for Olympic gold medallist Red Gerard (USA) and Youth Olympic champion Dusty Henricksen (USA), who are both capable of world-beating performances.
At the age of 14, Gaon Choi (Republic of Korea) announced herself as the new star of women’s halfpipe with victory at the X Games, taking her mentor Chloe Kim's record as the youngest ever winner of the event. She will be hoping to back that performance up at the world champs with competition from USA’s Maddie Mastro.
On the men’s side, Scotty James (Australia) is the heavy favourite to land a fourth world title, ahead of talented Japanese trio Hirano Ruka, Hirano Kaishu, and Hirano Ayumu.
Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2023 schedule
The event takes place February 19 to March 5. For full details of the events, check out our schedule here.
