On January 20 and 21, the world’s best freestyle skiers will be at Tremblant for the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup. This competition will take place prior to official announcement of the athletes selected to be members of the Canadian delegation to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Thanks to an agreement concluded between Mont Tremblant Ski Resort and Freestyle Canada, Tremblant will host the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup for the next five years. The Flying Mile run, on the South Side, has been selected as the venue for the big event. In addition to providing spectators with a fantastic view of the athletes’ performances, the run has the vertical drop needed for an event this big. As a reminder, Tremblant hosted the Moguls and Aerials World Cup from 1995 to 2005 inclusive. In addition, this new agreement ends a longstanding partnership with Val Saint-Côme for hosting the World Cup events.

“Val Saint-Côme was a major partner in the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup. The site, however, no longer met the requirements of our principal partners and of the FIS,” noted Bruce Robinson, president and CEO of Freestyle Canada, via press release. “We are convinced that this change will bring new energy to freestyle skiing in Québec and will promote new opportunities for Freestyle Canada.”

“The quality of our infrastructure and the expertise of our teams, both on the mountain and in the pedestrian village, will benefit not only the athletes, but also their families and the organizing committee,” stated Patrice Malo, president and chief of operations at Mont Tremblant Ski Resort. “These assets will contribute to making the event more visible internationally as well as nurturing the dream of the local up-and-comers who will be able to develop here, which is completely in line with our mission and values,”

The program

On Saturday, January 20, the female athletes will do training runs from 8:50 a.m. and their qualifying runs will start at 9:30 a.m. For the men, training runs start at 10:40 a.m. and the qualifying runs will start at 11:20 A.M. The finalists will do their training runs from 1 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. and the finals for both women and men will be from 1:30 p.m. to 2:40 p.m.

The medals ceremony will be held at the base of the course at 2:45 p.m. Finally, at 4 p.m. in Place Saint-Bernard, there will be a ceremony during which the medallists will be presented and the names of the athletes who have qualified for the Olympic Games will be announced.

An “Open Bumps” day

On Sunday, January 21, from 10 a.m.to 2 p.m., an “Open Bumps” day – like an Open House, but on moguls – will provide the opportunity to ski on a small bumps run under the Flying Mile chair. Coaches and athletes from the national team will accompany participants. The activity, which is free and open to everyone, also offers the opportunity to meet the athletes, who will participate in photo sessions and sign autographs.

The headliners

Mikaël Kingsbury and the three Dufour-Lapointe sisters – Justine, Chloé and Maxime – will be present and among the favourites, along with Andi Naude, Audrey Robichaud, Philippe Marquis and Marc-Antoine Gagnon. This competition is the last event prior to the athletes’ departure for the Olympic Games. Please note that participation in the Olympic Games of Mikaël Kingsbury, Andi Naude and Justine Dufour-Lapointe has already been confirmed.

The Freestyle Canada athletes launched their season on December 9 in Ruka, Finland. The World Cup season will wind up in Megève, France, on March 18.