Two time Winter Olympian Finn Bilous from Wānaka will join the prestigious 2023 Freeride World Tour roster as a season wild card.
Twenty three year old Bilous, who has competed at the top of the freeski game for the last six years, is looking forward to transitioning into a different discipline this coming Northern Hemisphere winter.
“Following on from competing in freeride contests in my younger years, I have prioritised Slopestyle and Big Air over the last two Winter Olympic cycles,” says Bilous.
“I am grateful to have been given this opportunity to put more energy back into freeride. I am looking forward to staying true to myself and my skiing, taking my slopestyle and big air tricks to a back country setting.”
After claiming two medals, silver and bronze, at the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games, Bilous went on to claim his first World Cup podium in Freeski Big Air in 2018. He has represented New Zealand proudly at both the PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, and was named as one of the New Zealand Team flag bearers (alongside Alice Robinson) in Beijing, leading the NZ Team into the Opening Ceremony in February this year.
The Freeride World Tour released the wildcard announcement overnight NZT.
Finn is comfortable in the big mountains, consistently performing well in Qualifier events in his home country in recent years, including a fourth place at the Qualifier 2020 The North Face Frontier 4* presented by the Winter Games NZ. Further afield, Finn earned a second place at Qualifier 2021 Engadinsnow by Dakine 4* #1, as well as finishing in a respectable sixth place among a star-studded field at Fieberbrunn FWT22 Finals, where he competed as an event wildcard.
Bilous will join Kiwis Jess Hotter, Craig Murray, Manu Barnard and Jamesa Hampton on the Freeride World Tour for the coming Northern Hemisphere winter. The first stop of the 2023 Freeride World Tour will be held in Kicking Horse, Canada from January 13th 2023.
