FMB World Tour 2024: Women at FMB Diamond events: Interview with slopestyler Kathi Kuypers

FREERIDE: Kathi, women will have their own classification at the FMB diamond events for the first time in 2024. This will involve all four Crankworx stops. You are considered a pioneer for women's slopestyle in Germany. Are you happy about that?

Kathi Kuypers: In a way, yes, but it's too early. In addition, some things in the organisation aren't right. If things go badly, it falls on us slopestyle women's feet and we look bad.

You mean the slopestylers aren't ready for diamond events yet?

Certainly not all of them. Patricia Druwen will also show flips and 360s at the Diamond Events, but most of them will have a hard time. I hope we don't look bad in the end. It's just too early - the women have had their own classification in the FMB Bronze and Silver events since 2022. The next step would have been gold events. This would have given the FMB athletes time to get used to the courses, including the more challenging gold courses. Another problem I see is that the Crankworx organisation wants to reward the female athletes the same as the men in terms of prize money.

Equal pay - not a good thing?

Well, that's good for now. But I've already noticed how this causes discord among the men. And rightly so, in my opinion. You have to realise that there is an enormous concentration of talent in the men's race. Only the top riders have a chance of winning decent prize money. The rest of the starting field nevertheless risk everything. There is no entry fee, which means that many of them fail to make the journey. I know of one case where Rogatkin, Lemoine and co. helped out and financed a colleague's flight. Apparently the Crankworx organisers have now even cancelled starting places for the men. And now we women have six starters and half of them are scooping up the big money. That's not fair.

I think it's super cool that we're allowed to ride Diamond events this year. However, I would have done it a year later so that we could all get used to the big jumps and learn tricks with so much airtime. - Patrica Druwen, FMB athlete

That's a considered assessment. How do you explain this snap decision by the Crankworx organisers?

I have a theory: there was the Red Bull Formationa kind of jam session for women on the Rampage grounds. Last year the best women from RB-Formation be allowed to start at the Rampage. But the organiser Todd Barber cancelled it without further ado. Without explanation, as far as I know. Casey Brown and co. didn't find that funny at all. They would have loved to start with the men. So the whole thing caused a furore last autumn, and there was a huge shitstorm on social media. And perhaps the Crankworx organisers now want to be pioneers and make themselves popular with this move. But that's just a guess. I recently spoke to organiser Darren on the phone and made suggestions for improvement - to no avail.

What kind?

For example, that he should invite more women in case some drop out. Think about it, in the worst-case scenario only three start in the final and all three get prize money. That would be embarrassing. By the way: Greats like Carolin Buchanan are also missing out due to a lack of FMB points. I'm also not allowed to start because I didn't collect any FMB points last year.

Why do the organisers of Crankworx contact you? Are you a consultant because you have so much experience?

Counsellor doesn't quite fit because they don't listen to me. And yes, I was one of the first women to take part in FMB competitions. Back in 2016 with the men. And I've been fighting for a long time for us women to be taken more seriously in slopestyle. So don't get me wrong. I'm happy about the development, but the women's classification at Diamond events is rushed. We women can also do tricks and put on a great show on smaller, safer courses. I'm convinced of that. But at events like Crankworx in Innsbruck, only very, very few will look good. Not because they don't have the skills, but because the conditions and the course are too demanding.

Kathi Kuyper's top 3 favourites for 2024

Patrica Druwen

"She is the reigning FMB overall winner and the hottest contender for the 2024 title. The Frankfurt native is only 17 years old, but has twice as many tricks in her repertoire as the competition. Patrica flips, spins and has even done a backflip triple barspin. She is currently learning tailwips.

Robin Goomes

"Robin may not have as many tricks up her sleeve, but she can do big jumps and also has the necessary mindset. The New Zealander spent several years in the army, allegedly even in an elite unit. When nerves are on edge because of windbreak, spectators etc., she will shine."

Alma Wiggberg

"Alma has a few tricks up her sleeve and the necessary 'kiss my arse' attitude. She did a truckdriver (360 barspin) at the Swatch Nines. That took a lot of attempts, but who knows, the Swede will certainly have practised over the winter."

Crankworx World Tour: What you need to know!

The Crankworx World Tour is a series of international bike festivals dedicated entirely to the sport of mountain biking. The best athletes in the world meet here to compete against each other in various disciplines - at a wide variety of destinations worldwide. In a normal year, the Crankworx World Tour comprises four destinations with the festivals in Rotorua (New Zealand), Cairns (Australia), Whistler (Canada) and Innsbruck (Austria).

Crankworx 2024 dates

• Crankworx RotoruaNew Zealand - 16 to 24 March
• Crankworx Cairns, Australia - 22 to 26 May
• Crankworx Innsbruck, Austria - 12 to 23 June
• Crankworx WhistlerCanada - 19 to 28 July

Commentary by Emil Johannsson,

"A major task"

Everyone is excited to see what happens next and we are all looking forward to the day when as many women as men can compete at Crankworx. I think it's absolutely important to have equal prize money. Anything else would be unacceptable because they are in competition with each other. But it goes from 0 to 100 very quickly, the silver and bronze events were only introduced in 2022 and now it's going to the diamond level events without ever having introduced gold events.

I remember my first gold event and it's a big step from amateur events (bronze and silver) to a gold event, let alone a diamond event. It's a big step and I'm confident that this transition can go smoothly for the women, but the risk involved should not be ignored.

In the end, I want to see as many healthy and happy riders as possible. Realistically, the move to Diamond Events could have waited another year and the focus for 2024 should be on getting as many riders as possible time on the Crankworx courses outside of the Crankworx event week. Training time is limited and it's a big challenge to prepare for a competition where time on the course is often very limited.

Emil Johansson, FMB World Tour Champion 2023

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