Freeride skiing & snowboarding coming to 2030 Winter Olympic Games in France

Fans of big mountain skiing and riding can finally celebrate; their Freeride sport is coming to the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Freeride skiing and snowboarding will make their first appearances on the Olympic stage at Alpes 2030, aka the 2030 Winter Olympics, in the French Alps, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Tuesday, July 7.

The decision to add Freeride skiing and snowboarding was made in part due to the discipline’s rapid international growth, its benefitting from a strong youth fanbase as well as its visually spectacular competition, according to the IOC.

The ICO said Freeride skiing and snowboarding uses a natural field of play (off-piste terrain readily available), which minimizes its impact on the Games.

The addition of Freeride skiing and snowboarding comprises of four events: men’s ski, men’s snowboard, women’s ski, and women’s snowboard.

“The event will provide an Olympic opportunity for 44 athletes (22 women and 22 men) to compete at the Games for the first time,” the ICO said.

Freeride skiing and snowboarding history in a nutshell

• Freeride skiing has its roots in France as early as the 1930s and 40s, with ski champion Emile Allais and others skiing the couloirs and gullies around Mt. Blanc and Chamonix.
• Freeride skiing started to gain traction in the United States with skiers like Bill Briggs skiing the Grand Teton in 1971, and “Hollywood skiers” like Glen Plake and Scott Schmidt skiing big lines, and for the cameras, around North America and Europe in the 1980s.
• Freeride skiing was elevated to the next level in the 1990s with big mountain skiing competitions being held like the World Extreme Skiing Championships in Alaska.
• Freeride snowboarding quickly followed skiing in the 1990s with its own World Extreme Snowboarding Championships in Alaska in 1992.

According to the IOC, the Alpes 2030 discipline and event program was approved by the IOC EB following the recommendations of the Olympic Programme Working Group (OPWG), which assessed the proposals submitted by the International Federations (IFs) and the Organising Committee.

Key facts about the 2030 Winter Olympics

• 50% female and 50% male athlete quota places: Alpes 2030 will be the first Olympic Winter Games to achieve gender parity.
• 3,046 athletes are set to compete across 126 events (56 women’s, 55 men’s and 15 mixed events).
• Freeride (ski and snowboard) and synchro9 (figure skating) athletes to debut on the Olympic program.
• Snowboard parallel giant slalom has been retained on the Alpes 2030 program, while Nordic combined will not feature at these Games.

The 2030 Winter Olympics will be held from Feb. 1-17, 2030 in the French Alps of southern France.