VOSS, NOR, 12 MAR 2013 – Featuring roughly 375 athletes, from 35 nations, competing in 6 events at two venues over the course of one week, the 2013 Voss/Oslo FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships was an absolute bonanza for any fan of freestyle skiing and possibly the best freestyle World Championships ever.

Things got off to a hot start with the halfpipe event held under the lights in the Snow Park Technologies-constructed superpipe at Oslo Vinterpark, just outside of the Norwegian capital last Tuesday night.
The general consensus is that the competition was one of the most intense and most progressive halfpipe events of the season, with moments like Joffrey Pollet-Villard's (FRA) record-setting single-hit air, Rosalind Groenewoud's (CAN) next-level spin combinations, and Matt Margett's incredibly smooth style all worthy of mention despite none of those athletes making the podium.
In the end, Virginie Faivre (SUI) and David Wise (USA) were able to best their respective stacked international fields to claim the first gold medals of the week and serve notice that the 2013 World Championships would be one to remember. Faivre was the epitome of style, consistency, and amplitude, and Wise was simply on another level, throwing right and then left-side double-corked 1260s to finish off his run and announce to the halfpipe world that the game just got tougher.
After Oslo, a lightning fast turnaround saw all attention shift 400kms to the north-west, where moguls competition kicked off the Voss portion of the Championship on Wednesday morning. There, under the incredible sunny skies that would somewhat miraculously bless nearly every hour of competition held on the slopes of the Myrkdalen (“Dark Valley”) resort, moguls heavyweights Hannah Kearney (USA) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) showed why they are considered two of the most dominant athletes in all of freestyle.
Kearney illustrated why she leads the 2012-13 World Cup moguls rankings despite missing the first two events of the year, as her speed and power were simply too much for any of the other ladies to match, while Kingsbury proved that, at only 20 years old, he is already nearly peerless, beating his friend and mentor, 2010 Olympic Champion Alex Bilodeau (CAN) in a thrilling final. For Kearney it was her second World Championship title, with her last being won in 2005, while for Kingsbury it was the first of what may be many World Champs golds, and both athletes looked primed to pull off the feat of winning double gold in Friday's dual moguls competition.
However, dual moguls is a different beast than the traditional competition, and Friday's event saw Kearney break a pole and lose a ski in her semi-final competition, which opened the door for Chloe Dufour-Lapointe (CAN) to claim the ladies' top prize and the first win of her career. Then, on the men's side, the second showdown between Kingsbury and Bilodeau saw the latter skier claim what was a simply astonishing third-consecutive dual moguls World Championship gold in a truly thrilling superfinal that could have easily gone to either skier.
In between those two moguls competitions, on Thursday, in the Myrkdalen freestyle compound that saw the moguls, slopestyle, ski cross, and aerials finish areas all situated within a few hundred meters of each other, the World Championship aerials competition got off the ground.
Chinese athletes have dominated the aerials event for the better part of a decade and this year on the World Cup tour is no different, with Mengtao Xu running away with the ladies' overall title and Zongyang Jia taking it on the men's side. However, while it looked like all the ingredients were in place for a Chinese sweep of both the men's and ladies' competitions at the 2013 World Champs, the jumpers in red were forced to 'settle' for ladies' gold for Mengtao Xu, men's gold for Guangpu Qi, and men's bronze for Zongyang Jia, in what was one of the most action-packed aerials events in recent memory. Qi's winning back double full, full, double full jump was nothing short of amazing, and his winning score – more than 20 points better than silver medal-winner Travis Gerrits (CAN) – reflected that.
Saturday saw the second of the two 'newschool' events that will soon see their Olympic debut, as the slopestyle athletes took to air and metal in the massive Myrkdalen park.
The size and scope of the World Champs course demanded absolute control and commitment, and many of the sport's top skiers found themselves unable to throw down a clean run in the two-run finals. However, those that were able to rise to the occasion found themselves part of a thrilling showdown that featured some of the best contest skiing of the season, with names like Nick Goepper (USA), Dara Howell (CAN), Grette Eliassen (USA), and James Woods (GBR) all tearing through the course's six rail and jump features.
However, at the end of the day it was Kaya Turski's (CAN) blend of smooth style and techy combinations and Tom Wallisch's (USA) brand of dizzying spins and casually perfect landings that were good enough to claim the respective ladies' and men's golds.
Then, finally, it was Sunday, and a huge day of ski cross qualifications and finals was packed into the ultimate day of the 2013 Freestyle World Ski Championships.
On the ladies' side, it was the most dominant ski cross athlete of the year proving to be the most dominant athlete on the day. Fanny Smith (SUI) lead after qualifications, and then pulled off some of the most impressive skiing of the day in the quarter and semi-finals, making huge passes to put herself back in contention on a course in which places to make moves were not easily found. In the finals, Smith grabbed the hole shot and held on to take ladies' gold.
A similar story looked ready to play out on the men's side, as Jouni Pellinen (FIN) also lead qualifying and parlayed his momentum into a trip to the finals. However, the Finn staddled a gate near the top of the course and was forced to pull up, allowing Jean Frederic Chapius (FRA) to shoot to the lead. While pressured by teammate Bastien Midol, Chapuis was able to hold on for his first win of the 2013-13 season, and the 1-2 finish for France combined with a bronze medal finish for Ophelie David in the ladies' race capped a huge day for the French nation and made for an excellent finish to an amazing week.