LAAX OPEN presented by Zalando: Eileen Gu and Birk Ruud are the 2025 Freeski Slopestyle Champions

Freestyle fans and those who want to become fans are amazed by the tricky freeskiers' final at Crap Sogn Gion. Thousands of them line the innovative course for the 10th edition of the LAAX OPEN, the FIS Freeski World Cup, which has a prize fund of CHF 70,000.

Superstar Eileen Gu (CHN) wins the LAAX OPEN Slopestyle title for the first time. She impresses with her class and style, such as the double 10 on the kicker, and wins by a clear margin ahead of her competitors, multiple X-Games winner Megan Oldham (CAN) and overall World Cup winner Mathilde Gremaud from Switzerland. The two compete in a very close contest.

With a spectacular second run, Birk Ruud wins the freeski slopestyle at the LAAX OPEN 2025, successfully defending his 2024 title. He finished ahead of two strong American competitors, Mac Forehand, world ranking leader, and Alex Hall, Olympic champion in this discipline. "This is my first title as Birk 2.0, and it feels great!" says the beaming Norwegian, who is now fully focused on skiing again after a World Cup foray into the world of snowboarding, captivating everyone with his double flair in the final quarterpipe.

Andri Ragettli, local hero and LAAX OPEN Champion 2023, finishes in a respectable 6th place.

With her quote, Eileen Gu speaks for many of the more than 200 freestyle pros who are at the FIS Freeski & Snowboard World Cup in LAAX this week.

"Everyone here in LAAX lives and breathes the freestyle spirit. As an athlete, I would like to express my respect and appreciation for that. The course was incredible, and for me personally, today was really something special. I think it's one of the best slopestyle runs I've ever done."

The LAAX OPEN continues tomorrow, Saturday, with the snowboarding competitions. The finals in slopestyle (1:00 p.m.) and halfpipe (6:00 p.m.) at Crap Sogn Gion will be followed by live concerts with Phenomden and MOBB DEEP in the valley.

All results are available at laax.com/open, as are the live streams on Saturday.

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