Freeskiers close in on Slopestyle Crystal Globe at Silvaplana season finale
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A handful of the world’s best are still in the mix to walk away with two Crystal Globe trophies at this week’s Slopestyle World Cup season finale in Silvaplana (SUI), should they pull off the impressive feat of topping both the event and the discipline standings by the end of the 2025/26 FIS Freeski Park & Pipe World cup season.
Only 15 points separates current women’s Freeski Slopestyle World Cup standings leader Kirsty Muir (GBR) on 200 points and Canada’s Elena Gaskell on 185 points ahead of the Silvaplana World Cup beginning on Wednesday 25 March.
Muir also leads the women’s overall Freeski Park and Pipe standings on 419 points. The 21-year-old won the most recent Freeski Slopestyle World Cup in Tignes (FRA) on 19 March ahead of runner-up Gaskell and third-placed Lara Wolf (AUT).
Muir, Gaskell and Wolf are among a women’s field of 27 contesting the last Freeski Slopestyle World Cup of the 2025/26 FIS Park and Pipe season in Silvaplana. Men's qualifications will kick off proceedings on Wednesday 25 March, followed by women’s qualifications on Thursday.
Twenty-four-year-old Gaskell will be keen to add a World Cup victory to her season after she was second in Tignes and third at Snowmass (USA) in January. Before the 2025/26 season, the last time Gaskell stood on a World Cup podium was in 2021 when she was third in Freeski Big Air in Chur (SUI).
Canadian teammate and recent Freeski Big Air Crystal Globe winner Naomi Urness will also be in Silvaplana. Urness claimed the Big Air trophy in Tignes after recording her fourth consecutive World Cup podium of her rookie 2025/26 season. With 392 points, the 21-year-old currently trails Muir in the women’s Park and Pipe by 37 points.
Fellow Canadian Meghan Oldham also returns to World Cup competition in Silvaplana after securing bronze in Freeski Slopestyle and gold in Freeski Big Air at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in February.
Meanwhile, two-time Olympic Freeski Slopestyle champion Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) is not competing in Silvaplana after the 26-year-old was a late withdrawal from the recent Tignes World Cup. The Swiss skier is still recovering from the lingering effects of a heavy crash she sustained while training for the Milano Cortina 2026 Freeski Big Air final.
Further afield, U.S. skier Grace Henderson will be keen to better her fourth-place Tignes finish in Silvaplana this week . U.S. teammate Marin Hamill (USA) is currently ranked third in the slopestyle standings on 172 points after she finished seventh in Tignes. Hamill counts one podium finish in second place and two top-eight Freeski Slopestyle World Cup finishes this season.
Home snow advantage could prove advantageous for Swiss skiers Giulia Tanno and Sarah Hoefflin this week. Tanno was third in Freeski BIg Air in Tignes but did not start in the Freeski Slopestyle competition there, while Hoefflin – the PyeongChang 2018 Freeski Slopestyle champion – did not qualify for either of the Tignes finals.
Other names to watch include Anni Karava (FIN) – who was runner-up in Freeski Big Air in Tignes and did not start the Freeski Slopestyle contest there – and multi discipline up-and-comer Indra Brown (AUS).
The 16-year-old Australian is currently third in the women’s overall Freeski Park and Pipe standings after recording three podiums from six World Cup starts in her rookie 2025/26 FIS World Cup season. While all three podiums were in Freeski Halfpipe, Brown recently finished 14th at her first Freeski Slopestyle World Cup start in Tignes, and finished fourth in that event at the 2026 FIS Junior World Championships in Calgary (CAN) earlier in March.
Brown also beat more experienced skiers to finish fifth in Freeski Halfpipe during her Olympic Winter Games debut at Milano Cortina 2026, just four places behind two-time Olympic champion and multi discipline medalist Eileen Gu (CHN).
In the men’s Freeski Slopestyle event, two-time Olympic champion Birk Ruud (NOR) leads the field of 63 in Silvaplana.
The 25-year-old Norwegian sits atop the men’s Slopestyle standings on 182 points after he was second in Tignes behind winner Miro Tabanelli (ITA). The victory was Tabanelli’s second win in Tignes after he claimed his maiden World Cup victory there in Freeski Big Air in 2025.
Ruud kicked off his Freeski Slopestyle points run with victory in Laax (SUI) in January, which marked his third consecutive Laax Open victory. His record in Silvaplana, however, consists of two podium finishes from seven starts, and his last top-three finish here was in 2023.
Trailing Ruud on 145 points is teammate Sebastian Schjerve (NOR). The 26-year-old was fourth in Tignes last week and at the Laax Open in January, after beginning his Freeski Slopestyle World Cup season with fifth place at Snowmass (USA).
Mac Forehand (USA) topped the field in Snowmass in January on his way to securing Milano Cortina 2026 Freeski Big Air silver. Forehand is among seven U.S. skiers in the men’s Silvaplana field, alongside teammate Alex Hall who returns to World Cup competition after securing silver in Freeski Slopestyle at Milano Cortina 2026 to add to Beijing 2022 gold.
Another Olympian returning to World Cup competition in Silvaplana this week includes Milano Cortina 2026 Freeski Big Air bronze medalist Matej Svancer (AUT). The 21-year-old claimed the men’s overall Park and Pipe Crystal Globe last year but in the 2025/26 season the Austrian has only contested two events to date – second place at Laax and third in Freeski Big Air in Beijing in December.
Estonia’s Herny Sildaru is currently third in the men’s Freeski Slopestyle standings on 145 points but could prove to be a dark horse for the Globe, similar to his Olympic silver medal performance in Freeski Halfpipe at Milano Cortina 2026.
The 19-year-old had never finished on a Freeski Halfpipe World Cup podium before claiming Olympic silver in February. Sildaru’s Freeski Slopestyle record this season includes his third place in Tignes last week, and his second-place finish in Snowmass behind Forehand in January.
Local skier Andri Ragettli (SUI) will be keen to end the 2025/26 season on a high note in Silvaplana after the 27-year-old was sixth last week in Tignes and narrowly missed out on an Olympic Winter Games medal with fourth place at Milano Cortina 2026. Ragettli also boasts a six-podium record in Silvaplana, of which three were victories. The last time Raggetli finished outside of the podium in Silvaplana was sixth-place finish in 2017.
The top 14 men and top 10 women from qualifications will progress to the finals on Saturday 28 March beginning at 10:00 local time.
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