On Monday, January 26, 2026, the "2026 TOYO TIRES FWT HAKUBA QUALIFIER 4*" was held in the backcountry area around Hakuba Happo-One Ski Resort in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture. This tournament is the highest ranked in the Freeride World Tour (FWT) qualifying series, and a total of 57 competitors, including 31 foreign athletes from 14 countries, participated in all categories.
Below is a one-minute highlight video.
Changes to the event schedule and slope selection
The tournament was originally scheduled to take place over four days, from Monday, January 26th to Thursday, January 29th. However, the organizers and security team carefully examined the changes in slope conditions over the past week and the impact of the winter atmospheric pressure pattern just before the event.
As a result, they decided to move the tournament forward to the first day, the 26th, as this was the optimal timing to ensure the safety of the athletes and maintain the fairness of the competition.
This season had seen significantly less snowfall than usual, but a significant amount of snowfall was recorded in the days leading up to the event.
While this snowfall improved the conditions, it also brought about a sudden change in the snow quality and stability of the entire slope, requiring advanced judgment in safety management, including avalanche control.
Podiums in each category
WINNERS SKI MEN - Top men's ski winners
1st - Arno Vuanier SUI 89.67
2nd - Yuki Shibata JPN 83.00
3rd - Julian Unterbrunner AUT 81.00
WINNERS SNOWBOARD MEN - Top winners in the men's snowboarding competition
1st - Taketo Kinoshita JPN 78.33
2nd - Igor Ilinykh RUS 75.00
3rd - Brian Bozack USA 72.67
WINNERS SKI WOMEN - Top women's ski winners
1st - Shoko Suzuki JPN 73.67
2nd - Mika Imai JPN 65.67
3rd - Sachi Hirakawa JPN 62.67
WINNERS SNOWBOARD WOMEN - Top winners in women's snowboarding
1st - Sayaka Kato JPN 74.00
2nd - Mutsumi Ido JPN 69.00
3rd - udrey Hebert CAN 68.67
Competition Face "GODZILLA"
This time, the competition was held on the northeast slope known as "Godzilla." The specifications are as follows:
- Starting altitude: 1825m
- Finish altitude: 1400m
- Maximum slope: 45 degrees
This face had been considered as a possible venue in the past, but had been shelved due to the unstable conditions and snow flow after snowfall.
For this competition, careful monitoring of snow conditions and thorough avalanche control were carried out, and it was determined that sufficient safety could be ensured, so it was used for the first time in a contest.
Despite the drastic changes in weather and snow conditions, this year's event was held ahead of schedule, but thanks to the appropriate decisions of the security team and the performance of the riders who responded to them, the entire event was completed without incident. The level of competition befitting the "4*" category, the highest level of FWTQ qualifying, was maintained, and a high-quality battle between riders gathered from all over the world was recorded in Hakuba
The tournament will be streamed as a 30-minute highlight video at a later date. It will be streamed on
the Hakuba Village official YouTube channel and the FWT JAPAN official YouTube Follow us on each social media account to stay tuned.