Andri and Tess cop a quali gold at the final slopestyle of the season

Unfortunately, that’s the way she goes sometimes. Most of the final cup standings were already decided, and nobody was going to risk an injury battling the wind today. On the flip side, the conditions on qualification day were near perfect, so the riders didn’t have to hold back. Mathilde Gremaud, not needing to prove anything, opened up with a chill run consisting of a switch 2p2, switch 1 on the shark fin into a right bio 9, switch 5, dub 10, cork 5 in the quarterpipe and a 2 continuing 2 to finish. Her first run was enough to put her into second place, and it was only Tess Ledeux, who overtook her with a k-fed, right 7 on the QP, left cork 9, switch left 7 and a switch right 9. Jay Ricommini slid into third with a super steezy cork 7 and a huge flair in the QP as the standout tricks of her run.

Soon after receiving their medals and champagne, the three girls met on the podium once again. Only this time Mathilde and Tess switched places as Gremaud got one of her three (!!!) crystal globes this season for the overall slopestyle win. By also getting one for overall Park & Pipe,  she broke multiple FIS records with six wins and nine podium finishes in one season. Speaking of domination, Eileen Gu would be on the podium in second place (if she had been present) with her unreal pipe season. And today’s winner, Tess Ledeux in third.

Even with a lot of people saving their best for the finals, we still got to see some crazy runs on the men’s side of things on Friday. Mac Forehand and Ahall brought their bringbacks as usual, but it was Hunter Henderson who ended up being the best American in fourth place with an extremely clean run. Third place went to the New Zealand young gun Luca Harrington who scored his first (but definitely not last) WC podium today. Austria’s Lukas Muellauer got himself a second with a switch left dub 14, switch right dub misty 12 mute and a dub 14 proper blunt. He was only bested by Andri, who took the gold on home turf with a switch 4, right 9 blunt, huge right dub misty 12,  left dub 16 cuban, switch left dub bio 16 safety, cork 9 in the QP and a 2 on continuing 4.

The overall slopestyle win went to Mac Forehand, who finished in top five in all the slope events, claming his second ever crystal globe. He stood on the podium next to his teammate Ahall in second and Andri Ragettli in third. Alex and Mac stood on the podium once more for the overall Park & Pipe in second and third respectively. Bested only by Alex Ferreira who wasn’t present to get his globe for his win-absolutely-everything pipe season.

This is a wrap for the FIS season so the riders can now enjoy some slushy chill laps, film some springtime BC, and dial some new tricks for the rumored first WC stop in Cardrona, New Zealand next year.