The Laax Open wrapped up with France’s Romain Allemand and Japan’s Kokomo Murase winning snowboard slopestyle titles on a day when windy conditions forced competition delays and made it difficult for riders to land full runs.

As many riders struggled with speed, Allemand put down a heavy first run that received high marks in five of the course’s six sections. The 19-year-old opened with a switch boardslide to frontside boardslide to fakie in the first rail section, followed by a switch boardslide with a pretzel rodeo 540 out in the second rail section. His backside 1080 pulled back into a 900 was one of the day’s standout tricks on the first kicker, and he got stylish with the unique “butter” feature, executing a frontflip nosegrab with a hand drag into a backside 180 off the knuckle.

It was Allemand’s first career victory on the World Cup circuit in just his fifth slopestyle start. At the 2025 World Championships, he finished 4th in both slopestyle and big air.

“I just have no words because I’ve been struggling with my collarbone for years, so being back on the top of the podium is something big for me,” Allemand said afterward. “It means a lot. I’m speechless.”

Joining the Frenchman on the podium were Japan’s Yuto Kimura in 2nd and China’s Su Yiming in 3rd. Su, who won big air gold and slopestyle silver at the 2022 Winter Olympics, has competed in four contests this year (two slopestyle, two big air) and has finished on the podium in all four.

Murase overcame the conditions to win a women’s contest that nearly was cancelled due to the wind. The 21-year-old was the only woman to put down two full runs, and either one would have won the event. Her second run started off with a major error, as she came off the rail too early, but Murase recovered well. She found the speed to go huge on the kickers with back-to-back double cork 900s and a backside 1080, then capped off her run by executing a backside 360 with a hand drag over the knuckle on the butter feature.

American Lily Dhawornvej landed a full run that held up for a 2nd-place finish. It’s the 16-year-old’s first-ever podium on the World Cup stage and comes just as she’s set to be named to the Olympic team.

Anna Gasser rounded out the women’s podium in her first competition of the season. The 34-year-old Austrian injured her shoulder while surfing over the summer and missed the start of the campaign. Her focus has been on the Milan Cortina Olympics, where she’ll have the chance to win a third straight big air title.

With the Laax Open concluded, the park and pipe World Cup season officially is on break until after the Milan Cortina Games. However, X Games in Aspen, Colorado will provide one final pre-Olympic competition for many of the top snowboarders and freeskiers.

Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle

1. Romain Allemand (FRA), 86/70
2. Yuto Kimura (JPN), 81.95
3. Su Yiming (CHN), 76.10
4. Oyvind Kirkhus (NOR), 68.40
5. Ryoma Kimata (JPN), 61.23
6. Jonas Hasler (SUI), 59.76
7. Lyon Farrell (NZL), 53.96
8. Kira Kimura (JPN), 51.18
9. Dusty Henricksen (USA), 49.01
10. Niek van der Velden (NED), 44.13
11. Sean Fitzsimons (USA), 25.55
12. Sam Vermaat (NED), 23.66

Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle

1. Kokomo Murase (JPN), 77.55
2. Lily Dhawornvej (USA), 71.18
3. Anna Gasser (AUT), 69.70
4. Eveliina Taka (FIN), 59.60
5. Sky Remans (BEL), 58.08
6. Annika Morgan (GER), 56.03
7. Mari Fukada (JPN), 48.70
8. Laura Zaveska (CZE), 44.05
9. Ally Hickman (AUS), 35.25
10. Reira Iwabuchi (JPN), 19.88