2015 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup in Raubichi

On 1 March, just a week after the 2015 IBU Youth/Junior World Championships, the Belarusian winter sports center Raubichi played host to the 2015 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup.

It was not the first time that Belarus hosted the world aerials cup. Although the most renowned Belarusian freestylers, champions of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Anton Kushnir and Alla Tsuper and Olympic champions Alexei Grishin and Dmitry Dashchinsky did not take part in the 2015 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup, the event attracted many freestyle skiing fans who were rooting for a new crop of Belarusian athletes. This year the competition was exciting and breathtaking not only for the freestylers but also for the organizers.

The weather kept the organizers on their toes till the very last day of the competition with rains and temperatures running above zero. The snow in Raubichi was melting fast. However, thanks to the modern technologies, artificial snow, and even dry ice from local ice-cream factories, the hillsides and take-off ramps were perfectly ready for the world cup.

Competing in the qualification round were 23 aerial men and 14 women from ten countries. Belarus was represented by Anna Guskova, Stanislav Gladchenko, Artyom Bashlakov, Maxim Gustik, and Denis Osipov.