Harrigan and Waddell ready for first Freeski Slopestyle World Cup

The 2021/2022 Slopestyle World Cup season kicks off this weekend at the Stubai World Cup in Austria.

It is the second Freeski World Cup event of the season, with the Aussie Freeski team making their much anticipated return to the World Cup season at the start of the month in Chur, Switzerland.

In Chur at his first World Cup since January 2020, 22-year-old Freeskier Cameron Waddell placed 24th, in a competitive field of over 50 skiers, with fellow NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holder Abi Harrigan placing 22nd in her Big Air World Cup debut.

The pair will once again represent Australia at the World Cup this weekend, and 19-year-old Harrigan said she’s looking forward to returning to a more traditional resort course after the innovative inner-city event in Switzerland. 

“Chur was definitely one of the more intimidating comps I’ve ever done, with the 40-metre-high steel scaffolding jump in the city,” Harrigan said.

“Although it was intimidating for me, it seems like it was also intimidating for all the other girls, and some of the boys, especially in that second qualification group.

“It’s nice to be here at the Stubai resort for the next World Cup, with a Slopestyle course that’s all on snow, which is a little less scary.”

Harrigan was just coming into her stride with a breakthrough season in 2020 before events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2020 she represented Australia at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Switzerland, placing 10th in Halfpipe, 12th in Slopestyle and 15th in Big Air. She then won two silver medals at her Europa Cup debut in February 2020 in Davos (SUI).

Harrigan competed in two World Cups at the start of 2021, placing 16th in Halfpipe and 20th in Slopestyle at the Aspen World Cup, and 16th in Slopestyle at the Silvaplana World Cup in Switzerland.

Now, she’s coming into the biggest season of her young career so far, with at least four World Cups in her diary.

“I’m looking forward to this whole season, it’s definitely going to be one of the biggest seasons I’ve had,” she said.

“I’m excited to ski at resorts I’ve never been to before and get some more comps under my belt.

“I want to be able to land every run in a competition, but I would be pretty stoked to make the finals in a competition, that’s my main goal.”

Her first attempt at achieving her goal will be this weekend in Stubai.

“We’ve been in Austria for almost three weeks now… so we’re pretty lucky to be training on the jumps and the course that we’ll be competing on,” Harrigan said.

“During training, I’ve been focusing on some spinning to the right and grabs, and linking my tricks together.”

Qualification for the Men’s and Women’s Stubai World Cup kick off on Friday 19 November with finals on Saturday 20th November.

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