Freeski Slopestyle stars ramp up competition at Laax ahead of Milano Cortina
Jan 14, 2026·Freeski Park & Pipe
Defending Olympic champions and reigning World Champions are among a stacked field of Freeski Slopestyle stars set to put on a pre-Olympic show at this week’s Laax Open, as the countdown for Milano Cortina 2026 enters the three-week mark.
Defending Olympic Halfpipe and Big Air champion Eileen Gu (CHN) and defending Olympic Slopestyle champion Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) are among a field of 29 women competing in the Freeski Slopestyle World Cup in Laax (SUI) beginning on Thursday 15 January.
This week’s competition marks the third Freeski Slopestyle World Cup of the 2025/26 FIS Freeski Park & Pipe season after the discipline’s season opener in Stubai (AUT) in November, followed by last week’s Aspen World Cup.
Neither Gu nor Gremaud contested the Aspen event in the new year, but Gremaud comes to Laax after winning the Stubai event, while Gu finished in 29th position. Gu went on to win the Freeski Halfpipe season opener on home snow in Secret Garden (CHN) in December. Two-time Freeski Slopestyle World Champion Gremaud, on the other hand, followed up her Stubai victory with two Big Air performances where she did not qualify for the final, finishing in 24th and 14th place in Secret Garden and Beijing respectively. Laax will be both Gremaud and Gu’s first World Cup event since December.
Gu – who claimed Slopestyle silver behind Gremaud at the Beijing 2022 Games – topped the field at last year’s Laax event while Gremaud was third and Canada’s Megan Oldham was runner-up.
The 24-year-old Oldham currently leads the women’s Freeski Slopestyle standings on 130 points after she was second in Aspen and narrowly missed the Stubai podium in fourth place. Oldham’s teammate Olivia Asselin will be aiming to improve on her seventh place finish in Aspen after the 21-year-old was second behind Gremaud in Stubai in November. Fellow Canadian Elena Gaskell comes to Laax buoyed by her third-place finish in Aspen, her first Freeski Slopestyle podium place since 2020.
Also sharing home snow advantage with Gremaud in Laax are Swiss skiers Sarah Hoefflin and Giulia Tanno, with the latter recording her second top-five result this season in Aspen last week after finishing fourth behind Gaskell. The 27-year-old was also fifth at the Big Air season opener in Secret Garden in November. Meanwhile, fellow Swiss skier and PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Slopestyle gold medalist Sarah Hoefflin returns to World Cup competition in Laax after the 35-year-old was 12th in Stubai in November, followed by eighth in Big Air in Secret Garden.
On the men’s side, Laax is just the second Freeski Slopestyle contest of the season after the men’s competition in Stubai was cancelled due to weather conditions.
Among the field of 63 men in Laax is two-time World Champion Birk Ruud (NOR), who will be competing in his first Freeski Slopestyle event of the World Cup season. The 25-year-old returns to World Cup competition this week after contesting the first two Freeski Big Air events of the 2025/26 season in China. Ruud did not qualify for the Secret Garden final in November, and was ninth in Beijing in December.
Other Norwegians to look out for in the men’s field are Frank Wahlstroem and Ulrik Samnoey. The latter was third in Aspen last week after the 24-year-old topped the Freeski Big Air field in Beijing in December to claim his maiden World Cup victory. Fifteen-year-old Wahlstroem finished three spots behind Samnoey in Beijing to secure fourth place in what was the teen’s first Freeski Slopestyle World Cup contest in his debut season.
Meanwhile, the most successful Freeski Slopestyle athlete in FIS World Cup history Andri Ragettli (SUI) comes to Laax after he was 11th in Aspen last week. The 27-year-old was the top qualifier in the men’s final in Aspen but was unable to secure his 25th career Slopestyle World Cup podium. With 24 top-three Freeski Slopestyle World Cup credits to his name, and a total of 33 podiums across Slopestyle and Big Air, Ragettli has more FIS Freeski podiums than any other athlete in World Cup history.
With last week’s Aspen winner Mac Forehand (USA) not competing in Laax, Konnor Ralph leads a field of seven U.S. men who are well placed to secure a top-five finish this week after Ralph finished fourth in Aspen and was one of six U.S. skiers in the men’s final there.
Forehand’s absence could also pave the way for Estonia’s Henry Sildaru to move into the top spot in Laax after the 19-year-old was runner-up behind Forehand in Aspen, which was also the teenager’s first World Cup podium.
This week’s Laax Open is also the third and final qualifying event for Freeski Slopestyle at the Milano Cortina 2026 Games before the Olympic Quota Allocation List is published on 19 January.
Freeski Slopestyle competition in Laax begins on Thursday at 9:45 Central European Time (CET). The top 10 women and top 12 men from qualifications will compete in the finals on Saturday 17 January from 13:30 CET.
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