Featured Image: Dom Daher, Courtesy of the Freeride World Tour | Skier: Jenna Keller
The temps have been hovering around zero degrees Fahrenheit in Golden, British Columbia, over the last few days. But despite the breathtaking chill in the air, the energy in town has been electric with the Freeride World Tour rolling in for Stop Three of the 2025 season. Fresh snow from recent storms has been preserved on every aspect of Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, with the famous Ozone face riding extremely well. A stable snowpack and soft landings gave these riders immense confidence, and the evidence was on full display for the entire day.
The last stop in Val Thorens, France, set the bar high. Val Thorens was hammered with several feet of snow, and while that can be both good and bad for a freeride competition, the outcome was ideal for most riders. Nonetheless, the crew returned to North America and blew away every expectation. The Ozone face is a short, technical pitch packed with features, so it’s no surprise we saw strong technical skiing with plenty of freestyle elements thrown in. From switch landings to cork 7s to front flips, tomahawks and everything in between, this was one hell of a Canadian throw down.
In the Ski Women’s Field, we saw a massive shakeup that few would have predicted. So far this season, we’ve seen Astrid Cheylus and Justine Dufour-Lapointe trading blows at each stop, with the two riders holding down first and second place in Spain and France. Today, neither of them cracked the top three. Instead, we saw both new and familiar faces on the podium, as third place went to German Lena Kohler. The FWT rookie dialed in her second bronze in a row with a clean run, taking two massive cliffs to her feet and pinning it out onto the apron. While Kohler’s been spending time in the park working on her freestyle game, this was an excellent demonstration of some classic big mountain skiing.
Second place went to another FWT rookie, Jenna Keller. The Swiss rider is a highly certified instructor teaching at the Verbier Ski School, and she has adapted those flawless fundamentals into the freeride world with ease. Her line selection put her above and beyond here, snipping fresh tracks across the lower portion of the face that led her into an untouched double. Entering the apron with speed, she held on and came into the corral with no time to waste. In first we saw the one and only Molly Armanino. The American has been a freeride staple for several years. She’s had mixed results on the Tour this year, but in Canada, she came out guns-a-blazing and returned to the top of the podium.
“I feel great and super grateful for the support. I’m also really excited for the other girls who put down runs to be proud of. It’s amazing to share this moment with them.” – Molly Armanino, 2025 Kicking Horse Golden BC Pro Ski Women Winner
In the Ski Men’s Field, there was no shortage of jaw-dropping moments that left the crowd roaring. Quite a few riders found several poorly placed rocks on the course and weren’t able to finish, including Toby Rafford, Weitien Ho and Maxime Chabloz. But for those who linked their lines as they’d envisioned, it was a hell of a day in the soft snow. We have to give an honorable mention to Ross Tester. While the Utah ripper backslapped a bit on his back flip, he ended his run with a huge 180, riding switch down the bottom of the apron to the delight of any sensible human being. Third place went to Kiwi Ben Richards. Richards has been on a tear this season after landing on the cover of FREESKIER Volume 27 Issue 1. Coincidence? We think not. He landed a pristine 360 and punted one of the biggest front flips you’ll ever see. It was a stellar blend of technical and creative riding.
Abel Moga spent most of the day in the hot seat after putting down a beauty of a run. In the end, he was edged out into second place, but not without valiant effort. He put down a front flip, back flip and sent a huge cliff all while going mach 10. The crowd was fired up to see the Spanish freerider back on the podium. Six points ahead of the competition was Canadian Marcus Goguen putting it down on his home soil. Goguen took the same line as Moga, but added in a bit of variation. Going backflip to cork 7 on back-to-back features, he once again showed his strength as he was able to seamlessly put these tricks down despite plenty of obstacles and speed.
“Winning here at home feels surreal. Having my family and friends around makes it even more special. I am thrilled to have put down a solid run and to bring more aggressiveness and style into my performance.” – Marcus Goguen, 2025 Kicking Horse Golden BC Pro Ski Men Winner
The next stop of the 2025 Freeride World Tour will take place in Georgia, with a weather window from February 23 – March 1.
Below, you’ll find the podium results, winning runs and a full photo gallery of the event.
Click here to watch the full replay of Stop Three on the official FWT website.
Ski Women’s Stop Two Results
Molly Armanino (USA) 84.67
Jenna Keller (SUI) 82.00
Lena Kohler (GER) 77.67
Ski Men’s Stop Two Results
Marcus Goguen (CAN) 96.67
Abel Moga (ESP) 90.33
Ben Richards (NZL) 87.67
Photo Gallery
Images: Courtesy of the Freeride World Tour
