Gremaud & Ruud Take First Places In Ski Slopestyle At LAAX OPEN 2024

The 2024 Laax Open came to an epic close on Sunday afternoon, where Switzerland’s own Mathilde Gremaud and Birk Ruud of Norway walked away with slopestyle World Cup wins in a heavy day of competition.

With the Laax Open slopestyle course perfectly primed, sunny skies overhead and temperatures significantly warmer then the snowboarders had to deal with just the day before, all the pieces were in place on Sunday for the world’s finest freeskiers to put on a showcase befitting of the Laax Open, and the podium skiers in both the women’s and men’s competitions stepped up in a big way.

For Mathilde Gremaud that meant coming out in run one with guns blazing, opening up her first effort of the day with a left 270 on to continuing 270 off on the down rail, into a switch right 270 on to forward with a Japan grab on the kicker rail, followed by a left double cork 1080 safety on the batwing jump, into a right rodeo 900 safety on the first kicker, then a switch left double cork 900 safety on the second, an alley-oop flatspin mute on the quarterpipe, then a smooth slide transfer on the a-frame featuring, before finishing it all off with a slick k-fed on the final rail.

“It was a really sick week,” Gremaud said from the finish area after the scores were in the books, “We’ve been here seven days, skiing every day, and the course is really sick. It was so nice to have finals on a nice weather day so we could really use the course to it’s full potential and also to show our best skiing.

“The vibe was nice. There isn’t usually this many people standing along the course, and hearing them cheer every time I dropped in was really special.”

Locking in a score 86.00, Gremaud would not be touched the rest of the way through the competition, going on to earn her fourth victory of 2023/24 and her fifth podium in five starts so far this season.

Second place on the day with a score of 78.13 went to Eileen Gu in her return to slopestyle competition after almost two years away from the event.

Gu’s last slopestyle start was in her silver medal-winning turn at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games - with her last World Cup slopestyle start coming about a month before that - and while she had the occasional minor bobble here and there throughout her week, the 20-year-old mostly looked like she hadn’t missed a beat.

With a second run that included a switch on to left 450 Japan out on the kicker rail, a right corked 900 Buick on the batwing jump, and a left double cork 1080 safety to Japan on the final jump, Gu would earn her 11th straight World Cup podium, giving her 17 World Cup top-3s in 20 career starts.

Rounding out the podium in third with a career’s first World Cup top-3 was the USA’s Jay Riccomini, as the 19-year-old put together a run that included a switch lipslide to right forward 450 off on the kicker rail and a massive flatspin 540 Japan on the quarterpipe, earning a score of 60.46 and a piece of the Laax Open podium.

On Saturday at LAAX OPEN 2024, 21-year-old Olympic snowboarder Annika Morgan from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, claimed second place in the Women's Snowboard Slopestyle event.

Started in 2005, the annual LAAX OPEN is known for showcasing the world's best freestyle snowboarders in halfpipe and slopestyle competitions, as well as freeski slopestyle, at the award-winning resort in the Swiss mountains. This year, almost 300 riders from across the globe competed in the official World Cup event sanctioned by the World Ski Federation (FIS) from January 19-21, 2004.

While Birk Ruud came into the 2024 Laax Open with three podiums so far this season, all three of those results were third-place finishes. On Saturday he showed up to finals on a mission, and by competition’s end on the slopes of Crap Song Gion it was mission accomplished.

Ruud lead off his 87.01-scoring second run with a right 450 onto the middle section of the double kink rail to pretzel 270 out, followed up with a switch left 270 on to continuing 630 off on the goalpost rail, before heading into the jumps where a laced a right double cork 1440 safety in the batwing, into a left double cork 1620 mute on the first kicker, an unbelievable switch left double cork 1800 tailgrab on the second kicker, then a switch right 720 Japan on the quarter, and a 180 nose stall revert transfer over the a-frame, before finishing everything off with a left 270 on to continuing 450 off on the final rail.

The victory was the record-extending 14th of his World Cup career.

“It’s truly amazing to take the win today,” Ruud smiled from the finish area, “It’s the first competition of 2024, and to be able to land one of my best slopestyle runs and take the top spot is a really good feeling and I’m really proud of myself today.”

There were four other skiers along with Ruud who put down a score in the 80’s in run two of the men’s Laax Open final, and tops amongst those was the USA’s Mac Forehand with a score of 86.28.

Leading off his second run with a tricky frontswap, backswap to switch on the double kink rail, and dropping a left double cork 900 mute, switch right double cork 1440 safety and a left double cork 1620 cuban through the jump lines, Forehand would be rewarded with his third podium so far in the 2023/24 season.

Rounding out the podium in third was Canada’s Max Moffat, whose super stylish second run might have been the fan favourite of the day, with the 25-year-old putting a little extra flavour on nearly every trick he laid down on Saturday.

Acing a right 270 on to continuing 630 out on the kicker rail, putting down a right double bio 1440 safety to double Japan on the final hit, and launching by far the largest air of the day on the quarterpipe with a right flatspin 540, Moffat’s 85.91 would be enough to give him his fourth career podium, just under two years since his third.

The big story in Saturday's Women's Snowboard Slopestyle finals was the absence of the previous year's winner, 22-year-old Zoi Sadowski-Synnott from Wannaka, New Zealand. This left the door open for a new face to claim the top spot. Under blue skies, eight riders faced off on the challenging course featuring a stacked rail section and several big jumps.

In the heated session, 21-year-old Olympic snowboarder Annika Morgan from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, put down a perfect run to claim second place. Attacking the technical course with speed, Morgan laced a back 270 on the first rail into a frontside lipslide pretzel 270 off the second, straight into a switch backside 180 nose grab off the bat wing hip, then blitzed the jump line with a frontside 720 melon, to a massive backside 1080 to the flats for 80.75 points and second place.

Most recently, Morgan claimed bronze in Women's Snowboard Slopestyle at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Freeski & Snowboard Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain. The younger sister of all-around snowboard talent Ethan Morgan, Annika, represented Germany in the 2022 Beijing Olympics.