How to qualify in Snowboard and freestyle skiing
How snowboarders and freestyle skiers qualify for the World Championships
The World Championships are entered by national ski associations, but an athlete can only be entered if they have enough FIS points in that event (in these disciplines more points is better).
For most events there are two levels:
- a basic qualification level: one athlete per country can be entered if they reach it;
- an additional qualification level: each further athlete must reach this higher level.
| Event | Basic | Additional |
|---|---|---|
| Parallel (snowboard alpine) | 5 | 50 |
| Snowboard cross, ski cross, team events | 50 | 50 |
| Halfpipe (snowboard and freeski) | 20 | 50 |
| Moguls and dual moguls | 5 | 25 |
| Aerials and aerials team | 5 | 25 |
Slopestyle and big air work differently: they have a fixed field, 50 men and 30 women each for snowboard and for freeski, shared out by a ranking (below).
At most 4 athletes per country per gender in each event (5 in snowboard cross, ski cross and parallel), and at most 36 per country across all snowboard events, and 36 across freestyle and freeski (20 of either gender).
Slopestyle and big air
The two count as one event for quota purposes: a place lets one athlete do both.
-
Every country with an athlete at the basic level gets one place:
Snowboard women Snowboard men Freeski women Freeski men Basic and additional level 80 80 60 90 -
The rest of the 50 and 30 places go down the 12th FIS slopestyle points list athlete by athlete, at most four per country per gender; once a country has four, its other athletes are skipped.
-
The reigning world champions get places on top of the 50 and 30 (both, if different champions in big air and slopestyle).
Countries must confirm or give up their places within 10 days of the 12th list. Places given up up to 10 days before the first competition go to the next country on the list. A country that keeps a place and then does not use it is sanctioned.
Ties for the last place go to the better rank on the 12th list, then on earlier lists.
Timeline
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 1 July 2026 | Official invitation to national associations |
| 31 October 2026 | Preliminary entries (by name for slopestyle and big air, to build the quota ranking) |
| 13 February 2027 | Provisional team selection |
| 24 hours after the last World Cup before each event | Final team selection |
| Until 8 March 2027 | Late changes for moguls, aerials and ski cross |
India
India has no athlete near these levels in the documents saved; an Indian athlete would need the basic level in their event, entered by India's FIS member: since 11 June 2026 the Bharatiya Ski and Snowboard Association, which replaced Ski and Snowboard India (see the sport record for the Indian body).