Freeride skiing and snowboarding have been added as Olympic sports for the Alpes, France 2030 winter games.

In a news release Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee announced the addition, along with multiple other disciplines, and the elimination of Nordic combined.

“Freeride has experienced rapid international growth, benefiting from a strong youth fanbase and visually spectacular competition,” read the news release. “Comprising four events, it will provide an Olympic opportunity to compete at the games for the first time.”

Nordic combined — the only Olympic sport without a women’s competition — was controversially removed from the Olympic slate in the same IOC meeting.

Local freeride snowboarder Johnny Duty will make his Freeride World Tour debut this winter. He explained that the addition of freeride adds a new wrinkle to the sport.

Forty-four freeriders — 22 men and 22 women — are expected to make their Olympic debuts. The IOC has touted freeride as another sport that has gender parity.

“It’s only one competition,” said Duty. “But it presents a cool opportunity.”

In the sport of freeride, athletes utilize the natural terrain of a mountain to perform tricks and feats.

“You pick a line during your run,” said Duty. “And you’re judged on your style and the line you chose.”

Duty started his freeride career at Bridger Bowl in Montana just after graduating from Montana State University with a degree in engineering and a minor in finance. It was a way to spend as much time as he could with his friends.

“I didn’t start freeriding to compete,” said Duty. “It was just something that happened.”

Freeriding is purposefully unstructured, and some in the freeride community are worried that the Olympics will cause the sport to lose its soul.

“There is a concern that the freeride will be taken out of freeride,” said Duty. “It’s weird to think there will be coaches with iPads analyzing your run.”

In response, Duty thinks the athletes should run the show.

“Athletes have a better grasp of freeride than anyone else,” said Duty. “If the IOC lets us make the decisions, then it will keep the heart of the sport.”

The Olympic games do pose an opportunity to better fund the sport of freeride. Often athletes are forced to fund their own careers, instead of being supported by national teams, according to Duty.

Olympic inclusion also serves as a marketing tool that vastly increases visibility of the sport. Founded in 1996 as the Verbier Extreme, the Freeride World Tour is relatively young and was a snowboard-only tour until 2004.

The first time the name Freeride World Tour was used was 2008, and for the 2013 season the Freeride World Tour merged with the Freeskiing World Tour and The North Face Masters of Snowboarding.

The International Ski Federation, or FIS, bought the tour in 2022.

“I had an idea that it could become an Olympic sport ever since FIS bought the tour,” said Duty. “It was not exactly unexpected, but I didn’t think that it would be added to the slate so quickly.”

Admittedly, freeride careers are relatively short, owing in large part to catastrophic injuries that are common, and Duty says that he was not planning on being on the tour for four years.

“Alpes 2030 is a long way away,” said Duty. “I don’t know if I’ll last that long, but it does pose a new challenge to try.”

The Olympics grant extra opportunities for Duty and other freeriders to ski in good conditions. On tour, athletes get to explore lines in Switzerland, Alaska, Spain, Austria, France and the country of Georgia.

“The ability to win medals in the Olympics sounds pretty ideal,” said Duty. “There are so many ways to ski and ride and almost everyone enjoys good snow. It makes sense to compete in that environment as well.”

In the meantime, Duty is going to enjoy his Freeride World Tour debut.

“I don’t know if this changes my plan,” said Duty. “But it would fulfill a childhood dream that I, along with a lot of people around me, have had.”