Interview & Video: Emil Johansson on Winning the Crankworx Slopestyle Triple Crown

Until this year, Nicholai Rogatkin was the only rider to ever win the Crankworx Slopestyle Triple Crown. Now, Emil Johansson has joined him in the very exclusive club after winning the Crankworx Innsbruck, BC and Rotorua slopestyle events this season. In fact, it's actually more like a Double Triple Crown as Johansson hasn't actually been beaten in a Crankworx Slopestyle event since Innsbruck 2019.

We asked Johansson how he came to be so relentlessly consistent, how winning the Triple Crown compares to other wins, what it was like competing after spending two weeks in MIQ, and more.

What have you been up to since you won the Triple Crown?

Since I won the Triple Crown, I’ve been travelling around New Zealand, making the most of my time here following two weeks of quarantine. I’m enjoying summer, the country itself and everything it has to offer. My friends and I went surfing and of course we’ve been riding. We’ve ridden lots of different spots and even went heli biking. We’ve also been bungee jumping and all that touristy stuff we usually don’t do. It a great place.

Take us back to Crankworx Rotorua. What was it like to take two weeks off the bike before competing in Rotorua? How did you stay sharp in quarantine?

MIQ (Managed Isolation and Quarantine) was really challenging. I basically had an alarm every day for the given time to go outside and take a walk. I was allowed out for thirty minutes and tried to make the most out of it. Besides that, I stayed active in my room. I managed to get an indoor bike sent to the room and also did bodyweight workouts; anything that kept me active and away from going crazy.

Leading up to competition day, the weather was not on your side. How much practice did you get in before the main event?

The competition was really a challenge in itself. Being in MIQ and going into a competition without much practice is definitely not ideal. Practice ended up being about four hours on course before the competition. Nobody felt 100 percent ready, but we were all happy to accept that this is how was going to be. We were and still are more than grateful for having the event at all.

How and when did you decide what tricks to throw in finals?

Honestly, it was a very open decision leading up to this contest. Due to changing weather conditions and the little practice time I more or less made this decision right before the run. Without knowing if there was going to be a second run and, of course, with the goal to finish a solid first run, I kind of had to balance risk and safety and do the best tricks possible.

Could you take us through all the tricks in your run and what it was like for you to be doing them on that day?

• First feature: The step down, truck to downside tailwhip.
• On the long and low I did a truck to unturndown. There already you could feel the wind that day. Because of this I did a trick I thought I could properly execute under these conditions or – even if I got wind-blown – at least figure out a way to make it to the landing safely and correctly.
• Going into the step up, I was planning on doing the switch triple whip, but with the wind and stuff I just couldn’t really decide until I basically was in the air.
• Going into the first right hand hip I did a double whip, not what I was looking for at all on that specific feature in this event but with the cards were given on that day, the double whip was something that I thought at least will get me down the hill safely.
• Going into the upbox or the small on-off, I did a switch bar into nollie-three-sixty. It’s kind of a small feature, doesn’t allow for whole lot of creativity. You see basically all riders doing similar tricks on that feature.
• Pedaling into the next on-off I did a switch truck into a flat flip. The flat flip was new for me on this course and I am stoked to get that going this year. Last year I started doing them, but it was great to get them in competition and to spread out the variety of tricks a bit more.
• Going into the long and low I did a three-can. It’s been a feature I´ve been afraid of spinning over the last couple years and I never got around to spin it. But everyone basically doing flips and front flips on that feature, I thought that if I just spin it and do something different it would be more exiting.
• For the last feature I had a switch-three-double whip in mind and I am stoked to get that trick done. It’s not as big as some of the other final features on Crankworx courses, so it’s a bit more tight to get around.

All in all, I am super stoked on that run but as I said before, with the current situation we were in, it wasn’t easy. Every one of us wants to push the sport of mountain biking with more progressive tricks, features etc. Not every competition will open the door for us due to weather issues. After two weeks in quarantine, I think everyone was stoked that we were able to have a competition at the end of the day. No one wanted anything else than to be able to be there, having the competition to take place and basically wrap this season up.

Were you able to treat this final event like any other competition or were you more nervous since there was more on the line this time?

Going into that event there was obviously a lot on the line, so I tried to make the preparation as good as possible to ensure I held the best cards possible. I didn’t want to leave anything to chance as it was a potentially career changing event. I wanted to make sure I prepared in the best way possible and perform at my very best on that day.

How does winning the Triple Crown compare to some of your other wins?

Triple Crown is honestly on another level. Every year, someone has to win the overall but the Triple Crown requires such a different level of consistency, so I needed a perfect run of 3 out of 3 times. There is a lot of pressure involved to keep consistent over time and keep evolving along with the sport; it’s really challenging. There are no guarantees going forward but I’m keeping working hard to keep my level where it is and also progress. Who knows if I will ever win another world tour title or a Triple Crown. I’m trying to enjoy the result that I’ve had but I’m hungrier than ever and I want to keep it going.

How difficult was it to be consistent throughout the season?

It’s been really hard as running into some contests I’ve had things going on; major crashes, minor concussions to name just a couple. It’s all a part of it but it is never perfect running into a contest, it’s like it’s meant to be a bit trickly. There is always some problem, mechanical or physical, that’s why the result of a competition is so beautiful.

Which run were you the most happy with in the past season?

I would have to say my Innsbruck run. The course in Innsbruck allows for bigger tricks. It provides all the features: It has the boner log, the step down, the hip jumps, the straight hits, the drop. This year, I was able to get a run where I would get done all my tricks back-to-back. It’s been a dream of mine to execute such a run in a competition and to showcase tricks in both directions. The tricks I did in Innsbruck weren’t identical, but kind of mirrored. Like if I did a three whip on the left-hand hip, I continued switch three whip on the right hand hip. So that’s a run I am really stoked on.

Yet, if there was a run which pushed my own riding level, it has been the BC run. That run itself as well as the conditions leading up to and during the contest were absolutely horrible. We barely made it through the course a couple of hours prior to the event. Being able, on that day, to bring down the run I did, with all those tricks and be able to push myself to something like that just feels great.

It is a tough decision, but now that I have been speaking about it, I would say my Innsbruck run sticks out the most.

Which Crankworx stop was your favourite?

Again Innsbruck. It was the closest to a pre-pandemic event and it was the one with the best weather. BC had bad weather conditions; it was very late in the season due to wildfires and travel restrictions. Rotorua didn’t offer good weather either, unfortunately. String winds, a lot of down time, little practice. Crankworx Innsbruck was by far my favorite stop this season.

Were you at all tempted to go to Rampage instead of Rotorua when you got the invite?

Not really - of course I would have loved to of gone to Rampage, but I would never give up the option for Rotorua. The margin for errors is so small in the sport we do, it could be the simplest thing, like a sprained ankle, that would hinder me to perform in Rotorua. Going into Rampage you need a lot of logistics in place, you need a digging crew, flights and accommodation to be in place just to be able to go through those two weeks of hard work and still perform. I feel I haven’t had enough time on my big bike before the event, so I decided to give it a pass this year. I am tempted to go back as it’s an event that I really enjoy and that I want to attend again. This year just wasn’t the right time or the right moment.

What are your plans for the coming months and next season?

Honestly, even though I am loving it here in New Zealand and will be here for the next couple of weeks, I am really looking forward to getting home. I haven’t been home in over two months right now and even though Sweden is pretty dark and cold during the winter, it’s still home. I love the wintertime; riding indoors, barely seeing the sun, haha. Plans for the next weeks and months is just getting back home and getting back into a routine while preparing for the next season. I’d like to learn some new tricks and be ready when it kicks off again in June.

How was it being filmed for this series throughout the entire season?

Filming the series throughout the entire season was a really different experience. To have someone constantly pointing a camera at you, even in really challenging situations and learning to be ok with it and excepting it, was something new for me for sure. Overall, it was a good experience though.


It has added some pressure in a way, that, when you prepare for an event like this, there is someone around, who wants to shoot for example in the morning before heading out to the course and in other situations you normally have for yourself. This is an extra thing to keep in mind and also schedule into your routines. I would not say extra pressure, it just needed more attention.


I am super happy with how the finished series turned out. Obviously, Erik and I had got to hang out a lot. We’re in Queenstown right now, still enjoying our time together, having fun. It’s been an awesome experience and has created lifelong memories. It was an awesome opportunity, too, to hang out with Erik outside an event and getting to know each in a non-stressful environment, have a good time and enjoy the good things.

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Interviews Racing and Events Videos Crankworx Slopestyle Emil Johansson