Gu secures second Laax Slopestyle World Cup victory as Ruud makes it a three-peat

Double Olympic champion Eileen Gu (CHN) proved once again that her greatness extends beyond the halfpipe after topping the women’s Slopestyle field at the Laax Open for a second year in a row, while reigning men’s World Champion Birk Ruud (NOR) locked in his third straight Laax Open title with a standout first run.

Gu and Ruud’s victories in Laax (SUI) on Saturday also marked their first wins of the 2025/26 FIS Freeski Park & Pipe season with less than 20 days to go until the start of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games in February.

Gu secured victory with her first run score of 85.13, which was more than 13 points clear of runner-up Marin Hamill (USA) on 71.38, while Austria’s Lara Wolf was third on 67.85

As the top qualifier, the 22-year-old’s dominance in Saturday’s final was never in doubt as she began her winning run with a switch left lipslide 270 to forward, then a right 270 on front 270 out, a switch left misty 900 blunt, a left double cork 1080 blunt, a right cork 900 Buick, and a switch right 180 to right 360 off on the last section.

Gu – the Beijing 2022 Freeski Halfpipe and Freeski Big Air champion – put down her winning run on Saturday after watching reigning World Champion Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) mistime her first trick and abandon the rest of her first run.

With victory already in hand going into her second run, Gu appeared intent on setting an even higher score in her victory lap but crashed heavily.

“I’m OK. I really just wanted to step up my run with my first rail, and then I was going to do something different with the knuckle,” she said.

“I don’t really like taking a victory lap, so I wanted to just do something to keep pushing and show my best out here. But that's the sport, sometimes you fall, so it’s OK.”

Meanwhile, Gremaud – the defending Olympic Freeski Slopestyle champion – finished in seventh place with a second run score of 60.03.

Gu secured victory on Saturday after she began her 2025/26 season with 29th place at the Freeski Slopestyle season opener in Stubai (AUT) in November. Saturday’s win is also Gu’s record-extending 20th World Cup career victory, and her fourth Slopestyle win.

“That’s so special. First of all I can’t believe it’s been that many,” she said.

“Secondly, I think every one gets harder and I think people sometimes take it for granted, like you win once and ‘oh she’ll win again and again’. I think with each one it becomes exponentially harder so I’m really grateful to FIS, to Laax for building such an amazing course.

In the men’s event, two-time men’s Slopestyle World Champion Birk Ruud (NOR) claimed his third consecutive Laax victory on Saturday with a first run score of 85.08.

Last season’s overall Freeski Park & Pipe Crystal Globe winner Matej Svancer (AUT) was runner-up on 84.08, while Canada’s Evan McEachran was third on 82.70.

Ruud began his winning first run with a switch right lipslide 270 transfer back 270 on the first rail, then a left 270 on front cork 810 out, a right double cork 1620 mute, a switch right double cork 1440 Japan, a switch left double cork 1620 blunt, and finished on a left 360 misty 720 safety on the butter feature.

While many of the 14-man final improved on their first run scores during their second attempt, Ruud’s high score remained the best performance of the men’s final

“To be able to ski this beautiful course and to be in the very moment and just flow through, and I’m free as a bird while I go is one of the best feelings in the world,” said Ruud.

Ruud’s win on Saturday was also his best performance of the 2025/26 World Cup season thus far after he was 44th and ninth in Freeski Big Air at Secret Garden and Beijing (CHN) respectively in December.

The 25-year-old admitted to feeling emotional in the lead-up to Saturday’s final, which is the last Freeski Slopestyle World Cup before the Milano Cortina 2026 Games.

“It’s a bit of an emotional day. I don’t know, I’ve been a little sad yesterday and today for some reason – sometimes you just don’t know – and that’s OK and it’s good to be sad, too, because it means you can be happy,” said Ruud.

“To land my first run today was just a great relief and a really good feeling and I’m feeling present in this moment now. I’m super hyped and I’m very, very thankful.”

Runner-up Svancer’s second-place finish on Saturday is the Austrian’s second podium of the season after he was third in Freeski Big Air in Beijing in December. McEachran’s result in Laax is his best performance since he topped the Stubai Freeski World Cup podium in 2023.

With one Freeski Slopestyle win each, Ruud and Mac Forehand (USA) currently lead the men’s discipline standings on 100 points apiece. Gremaud leads the women’s discipline standings on 136 points thanks to her Stubai victory in November.

This year’s Laax Open marks the third stop of the Freeski Slopestyle World Cup season. The Freeski Slopestyle World Cup season will resume in March after the Milano Cortina 2026 Games in February.