Mere months ago, few people would have had "Emil Johansson defeating Timothé Bringer at Red Bull Joyride" on their Crankworx bingo card.
These slopestyle titans are worthy rivals for one another, but had been trending in different directions. Johansson was coming off his third surgery in a year, the latest necessitated by a punishing error in Cairns that broke his rib and collarbone. Prior to that accident, he injured his shoulder at Joyride 2024 and had his hand operated on last December.
Conversely, Bringer was gunning to join Nicholi Rogatkin, Johansson and Dawid Godziek as the only men to ever lock up a Triple Crown. Bringer had already won in Rotorua and Cairns, breaking the 92-point barrier each time.
Sunday morning's duel of elite mountain bikers was one to remember as Johansson wasted no time igniting the Boneyard with 720s, tailwhips and a giant frontflip. He then observed 13 others fail to match his score of 91.00.
Bringer under-rotated an ambitious double backflip off the whale-tail feature, and despite correcting the mistake in his second run he couldn't elicit more than 88.65 points. Erik Fedko rounded out the podium (85.90) and last year's champ Godziek wound up a narrow fourth (84.64).
Alma Wiggberg defended her history-making gold medal by proving that, when healthy, she remains head and shoulders above most female slopestylers (91.40). Robin Goomes flew to silver (81.40) and bronze went to Shealen Reno, (70.80) the only other woman to drop in.
"You can dream about it, you can visualize it, you can think of it, you can envision it, but to actually do it is so different," Johansson said about his glorious comeback. "Knowing that I'm capable of doing it, but having come up short the past two years…it's torn me apart. I knew I [could] do this but I kept messing up.
"Today, I was fortunate that the first run was good enough for the whole event. It was very nerve-wracking, seeing everyone go. You're like: 'there's 23 chances for someone to beat me.' The field is stacked with really good riders, man. You can't take anything for granted."
Wiggberg wasn't as loquacious as her fellow Swede after the race, but commented: "It feels really good. It's been a difficult week, so I'm just happy to make a run and be healthy."
Bringer did clinch the men's overall slopestyle title in front of Chance Moore and Paul Couderc in that order. Goomes topped the women's ranking as Wiggberg (who did not compete in Rotorua) placed second and Patricia Druwen third.
'That's the life'
The latest Joyride venue boasted a 17-foot finishing drop and the biggest ramp in event history: 14 feet. Considerable rain earlier in the week prevented athletes from training on these features as much as they may have liked, but the show went on.
Johansson put forth a decisive opening attempt. He tossed his bike to the ground in a manner slightly reminiscent of Toronto Blue Jays slugger José Bautista's iconic bat flip in the 2015 Major League Baseball postseason. Tens of thousands of fans voiced their delight at the return of one of slopestyle's biggest stars.
Godziek had a chance to enter the medal conversation, but a promising Run No. 1 ended unceremoniously when he lost his balance atop the final feature. The Polish rider displayed visible excitement after finishing his second go-around, but judges did not appreciate his tricks enough to grant a podium-worthy score.
Despite likewise falling short of his goal, Bringer took things in stride.
"This year, it was my first win in New Zealand and then second win in Cairns so it's already a [expletive] good season for me," remarked the Frenchman. "Second place here again at Joyride. I'm not going to cry, you know? I'm just happy that I made it to the bottom. For sure I wanted more, but I crashed the first run so I had to take it a bit more safe in the second one.
"[Emil] is a true professional on the bike and super, super good. Dawid, same, is an [expletive] crazy rider and I watched him since I'm super young because he was riding BMX like me before. I would have been even more stoked to win Triple Crown at the 20th Crankworx Whistler, but next time I will try again. It's holidays now. We're going to have some fun with everyone and that's the life."
As for Johansson, he continues to show impressive tenacity in a career defined by perseverance. Having dealt with autoimmune issues like Hashimoto's disease earlier in life, the Trollhättan native has bounced back again and again—but admits it's never a pleasant road to walk.
"You don't build any confidence from getting knocked down to [immediately] thinking that you're going to win the biggest event of the year," he said. "I just started to build trust in myself again. That's obviously something that went straight out the window [in Cairns] because I crashed on something I rarely mess up on. I feel like I get better at navigating through injuries, of course…but it's always different. You need to learn so much new stuff about yourself."
Winning ways
Unlike the men's event, ladies' Joyride unfolded without any drama.
Wiggberg executed tricks like a backflip tuck no-hander, backflip barspin and x-up one-hander: maneuvers that neither of her opponents were able to equal. Her second jaunt down the course was nothing more than a victory lap.
"Just trying to sort out what I really have to do and get it done, but it's been difficult for sure," Wiggberg stated, referring to the challenge of practicing amidst inclement weather. "I tried to go into the event with the same attitude [as last year] and just have fun. There's already a lot of new faces [in women's slopestyle] and everyone's progressing really fast."
Johansson had lofty praise for his compatriot: "I remember [Alma] coming to the jumps. She was a freerider back then. She rode a DH bike, but didn't really ride dirt jumps that much, and then it just sort of snowballed from there. Having her lead the women's progression at the moment, it's awesome."
"I think she's a good ambassador for the sport. She's a good rider and she has a lot of bike control, so it's going to be cool to see where she's able to take her career."
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