Emil Johansson Takes The 'Triple Triple' & Breaks Semunuk's Record for Winningest Slopestyle Athlete
Photo: Clint Trahan
Emil Johansson has broken the record held by Brandon Semenuk for the most number of Crankworx World Tour Slopestyle gold medals with an incredible 12th win.
In the same run, he secured the Triple Crown of Slopestyle Awards for 2023.
In the same run, he secured the Triple Crown of Slopestyle Awards for 2023.
Yesterday, in a small village just outside of beautiful Innsbruck, Austria, Emil Johansson made history in the Thule Slopestyle. After a dramatic couple of hours - during which many riders struggled to put down a clean run - the crowd was electric as it all came down to the final athlete of the day. It was no easy feat for the Swede to secure the win, after he had his top score of 92.5(!) during round 1 bested by fellow Red Bull rider, Dawid Godziek. Both athletes battled through some tricky wind conditions, with Godziek having an absolute heater of a first run, only to crash on the final landing.
When Johansson laid down his first clean run - earning a whopping score of 92.5 - many suspected he might have the competition in the bag. But Godziek was out for blood. He threw down some impeccable combos: a triple tailwhip on the first hip, a cashroll barspin on the next jump, to then stomping a cashy whip on the final jump. To the delight of the crowd, Godziek succeeded in knocking the Swede off the top box, earning himself a score of 95.25. Nicholi Rogatkin - who brought some amazing commentary and energy to the event - told the crowd he'd seen that Emil had a big smile on his face when he saw Godziek’s score. He knew he had to step it up, and he did. Johansson pulled out all the stops, bringing two world firsts in a Crankworx Slopestyle Contest to the table.
 | I did an oppo 3 windshield wiper on the last one, I did an oppo 3 unturndown to regular double downwhip. I brought the switch truck to double downwhip out in Rotorua and that kind of opened up my mind to how I can flip this and make it different. I thought about it and I came up with this trick that I started working on later on and all of a sudden I felt like it was close enough to try it. |
The crowd went wild, with the tension building as the event-goers waited to find out whether or not Emil had knocked Dawid off the top spot. With Nicholi and Rob Warner on either side of him, and the Triple Crown tantalizingly close, the Swede maintained his composure, waiting patiently for what must have been an agonizing pause whilst the judges deliberated. When his score was announced, the noise was deafening as fans and fellow athletes celebrated Emil's historic victory: winning 3 Triple Crowns in as many years, whilst simultaneously breaking Semunuk's record.
Photo: Clint Trahan
| It was unreal, I felt like I nearly had a heart attack after the first run because the wind was affecting me so much. When I got halfway down the course, I could just feel the wind and I thought ‘I just gotta make it down this time, please!’. Then making it down, I was so out of breath, I’m glad that one worked out. Then sitting up top and seeing when Dawid bumped me – it’s tough knowing that you actually have to pull out the things you’ve been prepping for. I’ve been prepping for so many contests prior, I’ve been put in this scenario where if I haven’t crashed the first run, then my second run is usually a victory lap. But now I got an amazing score on the first run, and then Dawid pulled a great run out and the judges thought that was better than my first run. I’ve been waiting for this! It feels unreal as Semenuk for me is the GOAT... he has been a huge influence for me (as well as multiple other riders) at the Crankworx scene throughout the years. Definitely a surreal moment. |
You can watch the full replay from today's event here or below. Whilst Crankworx Innsbruck is nearly wrapped, we are all very excited about witnessing the pinnacle of Slopestyle: Red Bull Joyride at Crankworx Whistler in just a few short weeks. See you there!
Photo: Clint Trahan
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-foot jam / bar air
-flip x-up / flip bar
-360 3-whip / twister tuck no hander (TNH)
-360 windshield* / 360 can-can tire grab
-360 (double?) bar downside whip / 3 whip
-oppo 360 turndown to double whip / cash bar*
-oppo cork 720 (slipped foot, but not touch) / front flip TNH**
-truck / 360 TNH**
-oppo 360 windshield* / cash whip*
-alleyoop bar to table / flair invert
As for not procrastinating watching the comp - I was out riding in the morning before the comp so I enjoyed every minute of my procrastination, and have no regrets
Also, imo it's in pinkbikes best interest to be consistent with stuff like this. Now I'm going to just set up a blocker on my phone that blocks pinkbike all weekend every weekend by default. Less traffic for them. No spoilers for me. Cool cool.
Anyways, see y'all later, I have to attend my weekly dumb privileged prick meeting
i think semenuks just happy to be doing whatever semenuk wants to be doing on any given day. when he started exiting slopestyle he was hugely advocating for emil (i think it was one of the backwoods jam interviews) saying that kid is the future. even semenuks riding in a comp was a lot more stale than what he'd prefer to be throwing down in video parts, its a competition you're going to throw what scores well and try to win it. any jam type video ive seen of emil on socials looks like hes throwing down a different variety of stuff and having a more "creative" time flowing through courses. cant knock on him for doing what he needs to do to be at the top, the sport's evolved quite a bit since semenuk and brett were going head to head, and whether we enjoy it or not the stuff thats winning is celebrated among the athletes who are all throwing down in this sport. may not make sense or be as entertaining to us, but the people who are jumping around on slopestyle seem to appreciate it.