Olympic champions set sights on Silvaplana Slopestyle World Cup season finale
Mar 24, 2026·Snowboard Park & Pipe:format(webp))
The men’s and women’s Slopestyle gold medalists from the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games are among a strong field of snowboarders competing at the final Slopestyle World Cup of the 2025/26 season at Silvaplana (SUI) this week.
Women’s Olympic Slopestyle champion Mari Fukada (JPN) leads a field of 21 women competing at the fourth and final Slopestyle World Cup of the 2025/26 FIS Park and Pipe season in Silvaplana.
Women’s qualifications have been moved forward by one day to Wednesday 25 March due to forecasted challenging weather conditions on Thursday. Men’s qualifications will take place on Friday 27 March as originally planned.
Silvaplana marks Fukada’s first World Cup since she won gold at Milano Cortina 2026 in February. The 19-year-old is the only medalist from the Milano Cortina 2026 podium competing this week, and the only Japanese rider in the women’s field.
Germany’s Annika Morgan finished fourth behind bronze medalist Kokomo Murase (JPN)) at Milano Cortina 2026 and will be keen to improve on her recent 14th-place World Cup finish at Flachau (AUT) last week.
Sixteen-year-old Lily Dhawornvej (USA) comes to Silvaplana after the Junior World Champion finished third in Flachau behind Austrian snowboard icon Anna Gasser (AUT) in second place, while last season’s Slopestyle and Park & Pipe Crystal Globe winner Mia Brookes (GBR) was first.
Neither Gasser nor Brookes are competing in Silvaplana, with Brookes announcing in Flachau she will not compete on the FIS Park and Pipe World Cup circuit next season.
Dhawornvej currently leads the women’s Slopestyle standings on 169 points after two podium finishes from three Slopestyle World Cup starts, including one as runner-up at the prestigious Laax Open in January.
With second-ranked Murase and third-ranked Gasser absent, Dhawornvej’s closest rival for the Globe is Fukada, who sits on 116 points based on her seventh and second-place finishes at Laax and Snowmass respectively.
Canada’s Laurie Blouin was one of the few favourites on the Silvaplana start list who was in the running for the women’s Slopestyle Globe; however, a broken collarbone sustained during a crash in Monday’s training means the 29-year-old will not be riding this week in Corvatsch, or for the foreseeable future.
Up-and-comers to look out for in the women’s field include 15-year-old Sky Remans (BEL) and U.S. rider Jessica Perlmutter. Remans became Big Air Junior World Champion earlier in March following her Olympic Winter Games debut at Milano 2026. The Belgian was 11th last week in Flachau, but earlier in the season Remans finished fifth at the Laax Open in what was her first World Cup final in her first season on the tour.
Perlmutter comes to Silvaplana after she was seventh in Flachau and claimed three podium finishes at the FIS Park and Pipe Junior World Championships earlier in March, including the Rail title and third-place finishes in Slopestyle and Big Air. The 16-year-old also finished sixth in Slopestyle at Milano Cortina 2026.
In the men’s event, Milano Cortina 2026 Slopestyle champion Su Yiming (CHN) leads a field of 62 riders and the men’s Slopestyle standings on 140 points. Su already has one Crystal Globe under his belt this season after topping the men’s Big Air standings in the lead-up to the Olympic Winter Games.
The 22-year-old also secured Big Air bronze at Milano Cortina 2026 for a total of two medals in Italy to add to his Beijing 2022 big air gold medal and Slopestyle silver. Su recorded two Slopestyle World Cup podiums – third at Laax and second at Snowmass – on the road to becoming Olympic champion in February.
Silvaplana marks Su’s first contest since Milano Cortina 2026 and the double Olympic champion has a lead of just one point over Judd Henkes (USA) and his 139 points.
Su is also ranked third in the men’s overall Park and Pipe standings on 340 points, and a victory in Silvaplana could go some way in putting him on top of the combined standings if current overall leader Yuto Totsuka (JPN) and second-ranked rider Valentino Guseli (AUS) do not add significantly to their point totals in Silvaplana.
Henkes jumped from eighth to second place behind Su in the standings after he was runner-up in Flachau last week behind winner Eli Bouchard (CAN). Henkes’ Flachau performance marked his first top-three World Cup result in six years, with his previous podium dating back to 2020 when he was third in Mammoth Mountain (USA).
Bouchard’s win in Flachau, on the other hand, marked the 18-year-old’s second career World Cup victory and podium after he topped the Aspen Big Air World Cup in February.
Other contenders for a podium finish in Silvaplana and a tilt at the Globe are Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara and Yuto Kimura. Ogiwara was third in Flachau and is currently ranked seventh in the Slopestyle standings on 80 points, while 17-year-old Kimura is third on 135 points. Kimura made his World Cup debut in November and went on to claim second place at the Laax Open, which was just his second Slopestyle World Cup start.
France’s Romain Allemand is fourth in the standings on 101 points and will be keen to wrap up his 2025/26 season on a high note after the 19-year-old claimed his maiden World Cup victory at the Laax Open in January. Allemand did not qualify for the final in Flachau last week, his first competition since finishing fifth in the Olympic Slopestyle final in February.
The above-mentioned Guseli is also capable of a top-three finish in Silvaplana after the 20-year-old topped qualifications before finishing ninth in the Flachau final. The Australian previously finished third in Silvaplana in 2024 and 2022, and counts four Slopestyle podiums among his 13 top-three World Cup finishes across Slopestyle, Big Air and Halfpipe.
Guseli’s efforts across all three this season currently has him within striking distance of the men’s overall Park and Pipe Globe on 379 points, while standings leader Totsuka sits on 396 points.
The top eight women and top 16 men from qualifications will progress to the finals on Sunday 29 March.
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