Freeski EC season wraps up in Corvatsch with McGee and Rhyner atop standings

The 2025/26 FIS Freeski Park & Pipe European Cup season came to a close last week on the storied slopes of Corvatsch, Switzerland, with the final Halfpipe, Big Air, and Slopestyle competitions of the campaign going down for both Freeski and Snowboard over the course of an action-packed six days.

It was a big and largely successful EC season on the Freeski side of things, with seven Slopestyle, seven Big Air, and two Halfpipe events taking place - along with six Rail Events, as the most recent event to be added to the Park & Pipe stable continues to be refined and perfected with the goal of adding it the World Cup at some point in the future. 

Recent Park & Pipe rule changes for the Continental Cup level stipulate that three competitions, taking place in at least two different countries, must be completed in order to be considered a full calendar and award overall winners. While there were three women’s events completed, with all of those competitions taking place in Switzerland there would be no overall winners earning a personal quota spot on the World Cup tour next season.

Still, it was a strong EC season for Kaitlyn Reital of the USA, who earned two second place finishes and a win in her three starts to lead the standings. Reital was followed in second overall by Alexsandra Glaskova (AIN), who had two victories in two starts but did not enter the final competition of the season in Corvatsch. 

Glaskova, however, did start at the World Cup season finale, also at Corvatsch back in March, where the 20-year-old secured her first World Cup podium in her first World Cup start with an impressive third place finish. 

Third overall for the women went to Keira Devenoges of Switzerland.

For the men we saw only two EC Halfpipe comps taking place in 2025/26, as the second of the Laax double-header event was cancelled due to weather. 

Austria’s Sam Baumgartner lead the way in the shortened season, with the 28-year-old veteran of 28 World Cup Slopestyle/Big Air starts continuing to impress in his transition to Halfpipe skiing. Baumgartner claimed his first EC Halfpipe victory at the season finale in Corvatsch, while also finishing in fourth place at Laax.

Winner of that Laax competition and second overall for the men was 16-year-old Cooper Breen of New Zealand, while the USA’s Joey Nick rounded out the top three in third. 

Worthy of an honourable mention here is Andri Ragettli (SUI), as the FIS Freeski World Cup’s all-time podium leader, and one of the greatest Slopestyle and Big Air skiers in competition history, dropped in on his first European Cup halfpipe event and immediately found his way onto the podium with a second place finish at Corvatsch behind Baumgartner - earning himself Swiss National Champion honours in the process. 

With a huge slate of seven Slopestyle and seven Big Air competitions taking place on the 2025/26 European Cup calendar, we were most certainly able to award overall winners and 2026/27 World Cup personal spots for the top skiers on that side, which for the women meant that France’s Poppy McGree will be joining the big tour next winter.

Just 15 years old, McGree was a mission this past season, dropping in on a total of 19 competitions across World Cup, European Cup, Junior World Championships, National Championships, and FIS-level events.

In her nine European Cup and EC Premium events, McGree recorded five podiums, including a victory on home snow at the Vars Big Air event, to finish the season atop the women’s rankings with 595 points. Not only that, but in her first and so far only World Cup start, McGree impressed further, qualifying in 11th spot at the Tignes (FRA) Big Air competition to finish just one spot outside of the finals. 

Second place for the women’s Slopestyle/Big Air overall also went to France, with Emilie Lewis taking those honours, while Italy’s Heidi Pescollderungg rounded out the season podium in third. 

It was a hotly-contested season of action on the men’s SS/BA side of things, with a number of experienced World Cup competitors putting in significant European Cup time in an effort to lock down a guaranteed spot on the World Cup startlist for 2026/27.

Tops amongst them was Switzerland’s Nils Rhyner, as the 22-year-old dominated his EC Premium starts of the course of the winter, claiming three victories in four events and adding one more podium in his three non-premium EC starts to claim his first European Cup overall victory.

Rhyner also showed some increasing promise in his three World Cup starts in 2025/26,with a career-best 12th place finish on home snow at the Laax Open, and made his Olympic debut at the Milano-Cortina Games with a 25th finish in Slopestyle and a 17th place result in Big Air. With Swiss Freeski seeing a some heavy-hitters announcing their retirements at the end of this past season, including Fabien Boesch and Collin Will, Rhyner will be looking to step up and fill those big shoes in 2026/27.

Second overall behind Rhyner was his compatriot Adrien Vaudaux, while Austria’s Luis Resch claimed his piece of the season podium with a third overall finish. 

Finally, the second season of Rails as a FIS Continental Cup level event wrapped up earlier in March at Szczyrk (POL), and we’ll have take a separate look at that later this week. 

QUICK LINKS

• 2025/26 FIS Freeski European Cup standings

• 2025/26 FIS Freeski European Cup calendar and results