Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships in Bakuriani: Highlights from Day 1

The competition programme includes halfpipe, big air, slopestyle, parallel giant slalom, ski and snowboard cross events at the Bakuriani-Didveli side of the resort, while aerials are hosted in the Kokhta-Mitarbi area. Photo: Georgian Ski Federation

In a symbolic event as part of the launch of the Championships, a track on the Didveli Mountain was named after Oto Gotsiridze - a recognised figure of the history of the Georgian ski sports since the 1970s. The honouring of Gotsiridze’s legacy also recognised his efforts in the transformation of Didveli as an area for ski competitions in the 2000s. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Hundreds of people attended the first day of the Championship, with over 2,000 international visitors from 42 countries registering for the entire Championships in Bakuriani. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

The resort was upgraded with three new cable cars, two artificial reservoirs for the snowmaking system and six new tracks to host the event, with ₾270 million ($102mln) spent on the project. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

In one of the first contests of the Championships, Poland’s Oskar Kwiatkowski and Japan’s Tsubaki Miki earned gold in the parallel giant slalom on Saturday. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Kwiatowski claimed the top honour in the men’s section, where the silver medal went to Dario Kaviezel from Switzerland and the bronze to Austria’s Alexsander Payer. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Among women, Miki’s gold-winning performance was followed by Austrian athlete Daniela Ulbing in the second spot, while Poland’s Aleksandra Król finished third. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Colder temperatures and fresh snow in Bakuriani over the recent weeks have combined with the artificial snowmaking from the upgraded infrastructure, with the resort praised in a Eurosport coverage as an "amazing place" that needs to be on the bucket list of winter sports enthusiasts. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

The first freestyle medal went down in an epic fashion on Saturday, with Ashley Caldwell, Chris Lillis and Quinn Dehlinger of the USA claiming the aerials mixed team World Championships gold, followed by China with silver and Ukraine taking home the bronze. Photo: Georgian Ski Federation

Bakuriani is hosting about 700 athletes from 42 countries, competing in 30 categories for seven disciplines. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

Winners of a total of 30 gold medals are to be revealed at the World Championships. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge

The Championships are taking place between February 16 and March 5. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge