Finn Bilous Photo: Photosport
Wanaka skier Finn Bilous has grabbed his first podium finish on the Freeride World Tour, placing second in the year's opening round in Switzerland.
Bilous skied with style and creativity at the Petit Bec venue in Verbier, carrying plenty of speed to throw a massive 360 and stomping a flat 360 to impress the judges.
"I'm stoked, it was a nice surprise to wake up to a few extra centimetres (of snow) this morning and it was definitely hard and fast in there, but just like New Zealand, so I felt at home riding here today and stoked to put one down," he said.
Max Hitzig of Germany was victorious, with two-time Freeride World Tour champion Kristofer Turdell of Sweden third.
Bilous, who was crowned the 2023 Snow Sports NZ Freeride Athlete of the Year, made the transition from Freeski Big Air and Slopestyle to Freeride after the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
With five more stops on the 2024 Tour, Bilous said: "I want to take it event by event and find lines that are true to my style and the type of thing I want to represent. I am going to keep looking for them, try to put some flavour in there and have fun with it."
The second leg is scheduled for Andorra next week.