Wanaka freeride ski athletes were on top form at the fourth stop of the Freeride World Tour (FTW) held in Fieberbrunn, Austria on Sunday (March 8), with Craig Murray taking the win in men’s ski and Hank Bilous also on the podium in third. 

It was crunch time at the fourth and second-to-last stop of the FWT with the cut-off being made for the finals in Verbier, Switzerland, and to qualify for FWT 2021. 

The FWT is an annually toured series of events in which the best freeskiers and snowboard freeriders compete for individual event wins, as well as the overall title of world champion in their respective genders and disciplines.

Only the top 13 male skiers would be going through to the finals and Craig Murray was sitting in 13th place on the rankings heading into the competition. 

Craig suffered a season-ending injury at this event in 2019.

This year, however, Craig came storming out of the start gates, landing two huge tricks on the upper section of the venue, including a massive 360 right above the exposed terrain.

Maintaining his speed all the way to the finish gate, Craig’s run earned him green lights across all judging criteria: line, fluidity, control, air, style and technique, taking a score of 96.67 from a possible 100 points.

Blake Marshall (Queenstown) was the first of the NZ men to drop into the course, setting the bar with fast fall line skiing and plenty of tricks and earning a score of 85 points which put him, briefly, into second.

That was until Hank Bilous dropped in right behind him and upped the ante with a score of 91.67. 

Hank had spectators holding their breath as he headed into exposed terrain before landing a huge cliff drop. Landing switch off his next take off, Hank looked more than comfortable as he boosted across a huge transfer gap and down to the finish line.

An impressive run by USA skier Issac Freeland saw him finish in second place, just edging Blake Marshall in to fourth and preventing an all-Kiwi sweep of the men’s ski podium.

The FWT 2020 finals, known as the Verbier Xtreme, are set for March 28-April 5.

PHOTO: Supplied