BANKED SLALOM LAAX 2026: Rollercoaster ride at iconic snowboarding event

Sunday morning, fog envelops the mountain, obscuring the approach to the start. Then the worst of it clears and the blue-marked turns outline the banked slalom course in the LAAX snow park. On your marks, get set, go for 80 young shredders. Whether it's their first time, their second time, or they've been doing it forever. The kids don't care about the weather. They're having fun riding the steep turns, gallantly, rapidly, back and forth and back and forth, like riding a roller coaster. Number 88 races straight to the top of the podium and won't give up their starting number. It belongs to Kai Kestenholz, who magnificently repeats his title from last year, as do Paula Bauer and Leo Thoresen – the trio who do their famous snowboarding parents proud. At noon, the spring sun comes out and shines its spotlight on the racers. The second run is about to begin. And everyone who still wants to finish the contest with a joint run, regardless of whether they are 5 or 65 years young, rides backwards through the course in one category. Everyone receives applause, and everyone has a satisfied grin on their face at the finish line. Bravo! Emmie shows the lightness of being. At 10 years old, she is the best in the fakie race, seconds faster than Svenja Schaller, the three-time Banked series winner who is three times her age. On behalf of all the young riders, we shower Emmie with roses, knowing that the future of snowboarding is already here. The young rider from the Freestyle Academy LAAX also won the category for the youngest participants – Young Girls – riding forwards.