FEATURE

Craig Murray Wins Freeride World Qualifier in Austria

By Snow Sports New Zealand

New Zealander freeskier Craig Murray (Wanaka) has claimed victory at a Freeride World Qualifier 4-star competition held in the Austrian resort of Hochfugen. Anna Smoothy (Wanaka) finished fourth in the women’s freeski division.

The 2016 Junior Freeride Tour champion topped the field of 31 male skiers, starting out with a huge backflip at the top of the course and riding a fast technical line through exposed terrain on the Ostwand Hochfügen face. Watch Craig’s run here: https://www.facebook.com/bigmountain.hochfuegen/ 

“I’m still in disbelief about the result, it’s a dream come true to win this event, I’m kind of in shock,” Craig says.
 

“I tried to ski something fun and concentrate on landing a run I was pumped on. It’s a really cool venue and I was super stoked to get to ski it. There wasn’t much snow but people were still finding some crazy lines. The event was very well organised and professional so a huge thanks to all the crew.”

French riders rounded out the podium with Mickael Bimboes second and Solan Dejouy third.

Lotten Rapp (SWE) was the winner of the women’s ski division with Claudia Aliaga (CHI) second, Maude Besse (SUI) third and NZ’s Anna Smoothy fourth.

Full results: http://www.freerideworldtour.com/event/big-mountain-hochfugen-4-2017/results