Live Report and Photos From The Snow League World Championships In Switzerland

Athlete Roster

On the freeski end of the competition, eight male and eight female athletes will compete in a head-to-head style bracket format on Friday, March 20, 2026. While many of the athletes who competed at Yunding Snow Park in December have returned, a few substitutions have been made due to injury or other reasons.

The complete athlete roster for LAAX is as follows:

Women (in order by current points standing)

• Eileen Gu
• Svea Irving
• Amy Fraser
• Rachael Karker
• Zoe Atkin
• Dillan Glennie
• Mischa Thomas

Men (in order by current points standing)

• Brendan Mackay
• Luke Harrold
• Gus Kenworthy
• Birk Irving
• Hunter Hess
• David Wise
• Matt Labaugh
• Andrew Longino

Competition Format

On Friday, March 20, 2026, eight male and eight female skiers will be seeded into a bracket based on current global standings in the Snow League. Quarter final winners will go onto compete against each other in semi-finals, semi-finals into finals, and so on.

Each athlete must win two of three runs and drop in on both the left and right wall of the pipe in the first two runs. The first athlete to win two runs will win the matchup and advance to semi-finals and Finals. The winning run will be determined and scored after both athletes have competed a run.

Every event during the league's season is worth a total of 100 points towards the Snow League World Championship standings. Points roll back to zero at the beginning of each season.

Who to Watch

The bib draw has already taken place, finalizing athlete match-ups for the Quarterfinal rounds. With a few athletes out for the competition and a few rookies slotted in, the head-to-heads got a bit of a shakeup in both the men's and women's fields.

In the women's field, reigning champion Eileen Gu will go up against Snow League rookie Dillan Glennie. Zoe Atkin, who appeared at the first Snow League freeski event in China but didn't compete, will go against Rachael Karker. Atkin and Karker have been competing with each other since their early days on the World Cup circuit. "That's what's so unique about our sport is that we all have such a different approach to it. I think we're all more creative in that way, that we all ride so differently," said Atkin of the entire women's field and going up against Karker.

Amy Fraser and Hanna Faulhaber, who are both decorated World Cup skiers, will also face off in the quarterfinals. Lastly, Svea Irving, who is currently the top-ranked American skier in the Snow League, will go against rookie Mischa Thomas.

The men's head-to-head match-ups got quite a shakeup, too, with Fin Melville Ives and Nick Goepper both out. Canadian skiers Brendan Mackay and Andrew Longino will face off in the quarterfinals.

Mackay won the last round in Yunding, and while Longino comes in as a Snow League rookie, it was clear he and Mackay are well-matched. Team USA skiers Birk Irving and Hunter Hess will also go up against each other in the quarterfinals. The two often train together, ski together, and are even rooming together at the event, which should make for some fun, friendly competition.

Luke Harrold will go against Matt Labaugh. Harrold is currently ranked second after an intense battle with Mackay at Yunding in December. Labaugh is a Snow League rookie, but an excellent skier. Lastly, the two oldest, yet most decorated skiers in the field, Gus Kenworthy and David Wise, will face off.

Prize Purse

Across the two freeski events during the Snow League season, the prize purse is a combined $580,000. 1st place finishers receive $50,000, 2nd place receives $20,000, 3rd place gets $10,000, and 4th place gets $5,000. Notably, one of the Snow League's standout features is that all athletes also receive a $5,000 appearance fee.

The top three male and female freeski athletes on Snow League World Championship standings will also receive an end-of-season bonus of $25,000, $10,000, and $5,000, respectively.

Just to break it down, just competing in the Snow League's two freeski events earns skiers $10,000. If they podium, there's the potential for another $10,000+ on top of that. If you podium more than once, it's possible you could earn up to $135,000 in prize money.

There's no doubt that White wasn't messing around when he secured more than $15M in funding for the Snow League last November, tapping into venture capital firms for a combined event prize purse of $2.2M.

How to Watch

Viewers in the United States will be able to watch freeski finals live on Peacock on Friday, March 20, 2026, with Quarter finals starting at 11:40am local time (CET+1, 6:40am EDT, 4:40am MDT, 3:40am PDT). A freeski recap will also be shown on Peacock later.