Two Canadian women were crowned 2023 Freeride World Tour champions after the fifth and final event of the season in Verbier, Switzerland, was cancelled on Tuesday due to hazardous weather conditions on the Bec des Rosses mountain course.
Katie Anderson, of Jaffray, B.C., took gold by virtue of finishing in top spot in the women's snowboard standings across the first four events of the season, while Montreal's Justine Dufour-Lapointe did the same in the women's ski category.
Anderson, 27, had already won three of four events coming in, topping the podium at the Baqueira Beret Pro in Spain in January, the Ordino Arcalís Pro in Andorra in February, and the Fieberbrunn Pro in Austria earlier this month.
The sizeable gap she had over Anna Orlova of Russia and Estelle Rizzolio of France — the silver and bronze medallists respectively — was enough to have already clinched top spot after her third win, but it didn't alter her competitive spirit with the announcement of the cancellation. "A little bit bittersweet today," Anderson said. "I wish we could've gone ahead but the mountain had other plans.