Mathilde Gremaud comes third in the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle at the Laax Open. Andri Ragettli had to settle for 6th place in the men's event.
17.01.2025, 15:20
17.01.2025, 15:45
SDA
Last year's winner Gremaud was only beaten by the Chinese-American high-flyer Eileen Gu and the Canadian Megan Oldham. Ragettli from Flims, winner in Laax in 2023, was unable to top his 79.39 points from the first run in front of his home crowd and was therefore unable to make it onto the podium. He was a good two points off the podium.
Norway's Birk Ruud took the win. The 24-year-old, who also wants to take part in the 2026 Olympic Games as a snowboarder and showed good signs on the board last season, won ahead of Americans Mac Forehand and Alex Hall. Frenchman Valentin Morel came tenth.
Gremaud showed the most difficult jumps in the women's event after an unsuccessful first run, but had to grab the snow on the landing of a 1260 on the biggest kicker in her second attempt, which earned her the decisive deductions. The 2022 Olympic champion missed out on second place by 0.21 points, with more than eight points separating her from her second victory in Laax.
Sarah Höfflin, the second Swiss finalist, failed to produce a clean run and had to settle for 8th place.
On Saturday, the snowboarders' decisions will be made at the Laax Open - with Jonas Hasler in the slopestyle final (from 10.00 am), the second best in the qualification, and the finals in the halfpipe (from 6.15 pm).
