20^th - 22^nd March, 29^th - 30^th March

The championships will be taking place in the resort that is home to Sandra Laoura, the first French lady to win a bronze medal for moguls in February 2006 at the Turin Olympics.

The snow sport of freestyle skiing dates back to the 1930s when Norwegian skiers began to perform tricks and acrobatics during their cross-country training.  By 1979 it was recognised by the International Ski Federation and by 1988 it was an event at the Calgary Winter Olympics. 

Freestyle is an exciting and exhilarating sport to watch. It allows competitors the freedom to be expressive, culminating in impressive speed and tricks that will leave the audience wanting more.

This freestyle tradition just keeps on growing and this year the championships will include the half pipe where skiers jump off the lip and perform big air freestyle moves; skiercross where skiers race against each other tackling natural terrain and manmade jumps and moguls, where skiers perform turns around large bumps and then perform jumps. The programme is as follows:

• 20^th March - skiercross (stade de plagne centre)
• 22^nd March - moguls (stade de plagne centre)
• 29^th March - half pipe (plagne bellecote
• 30^th March - Slope style (snowpark de plagne centre)

All the freestyle clubs from large ski resorts such as Tignes, La Clusaz, Les 2 Alpes and Chamrousse will be presenting their best athletes. One team the French will definitely be cheering on is their mogul's team who have become the best in the world after their incredible progress last winter.

Residents of La Plagne will be keeping an eye on their sporting stars Kevin Rolland, Marie Martinod and Julien Régnier. In 2007 Kevin won the title of Halfpipe Junior World Champion. More comfortable on the halfpipe than the slopestyle, he loves taking off on enormous big airs and has targets for this winter to win a medal at the X games and as many international competitions as possible. Marie, a freestyle skier and bronze medallist at the x games in 2006 is definitely making her mark on this male dominated sport. Last winter she took part in the film ‘Snowhite' the first 100% girl video of freestylers on skis, snowboards, skateboards and surfboards (www.snowhiteprod.com). Apart from being a pioneer and a top name in freestyle skiing, Julien created the Armada ski brand with some friends, as well as launching a magazine and a production company which makes videos with the best freestylers of today.