Photo of Emil Granbom

Emil Granbom

Profile and significance

Emil Granbom is a Swedish freeski talent from Falun whose path runs from the Youth Olympic Games (Lillehammer 2016) and European Cup titles to a creative, film-first career. A long-time park technician with a deep SLVSH résumé, he transitioned from chasing World Cup starts to filming powder, natural hits, and technical park lines with crews and brand projects. Granbom’s public profile blends competitive credibility—European Cup overall in slopestyle (2021), Swedish Big Air champion in 2017 and 2019—with cultural relevance through sessions at Kläppen and events like Red Bull Unrailistic. In recent seasons he has focused on short films and travel segments (including a mini-movie project titled “Childsplay”), while maintaining ties to Sweden’s scene and a sponsor list that spans skis, outerwear, helmets, packs, and performance drinks. For freeski fans, he’s a reference rider: a contest-honed technician who now expresses that precision in film and style-driven events.



Competitive arc and key venues

Granbom’s contest line started early. As a teenager he represented Sweden at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Hafjell, finishing eighth in boys’ slopestyle. Through the next cycle he built experience across European Cups and select World Cups—big air scaffolding in Modena, glacier slopestyle in Stubai, and spring finales in Silvaplana—while training heavy mileage at Kläppen Snowpark. The breakthrough at continental level came with the European Cup overall (slopestyle) in 2021, followed by another marker with a European Cup podium in Laax (2022). At home he twice claimed Sweden’s national Big Air title (2017, 2019), confirming the jump proficiency that shows up throughout his edits. As media opportunities expanded, he leaned into projects with film crews and brand partners, putting his timing and grab discipline to work on natural takeoffs in the Alps, Norway, British Columbia, and Japan. Invitations to style-forward showcases—most notably Red Bull Unrailistic in Åre—cemented his position in the modern park/street conversation without anchoring his value to a World Cup podium count.



How they ski: what to watch for

Granbom skis like a tactician. Approaches are mapped to the centimeter, with speed chosen to hit the lip in balance and on line. On jumps, watch for early, locked grabs that stabilize the axis—tails and mutes held long enough to read cleanly on camera—and polished spot-and-stomp mechanics that carry speed through the outrun. He mixes forward and switch rotations with refined nose-press entries and butters, turning familiar shapes into distinctive looks. On rails, he favors full-feature usage (presses into swaps, redirects, gap-to-feature starts) and tidy exits that square the shoulders on landing. The net effect is legibility: tricks you can replay and learn from, built on quiet upper-body control and consistent pop.



Resilience, filming, and influence

Street and backcountry filming demand patience—shovel work, salt, dawn starts, and the discipline to walk away when speed or landing quality won’t cooperate. Granbom’s segments show that pragmatic rhythm and a preference for repeatable tricks over one-off hucks. Years of SLVSH games honed his on-demand problem solving and trick selection under pressure; that same decision-making now underpins how he chooses lines for short films and brand projects. His recent focus has included collaborative shoots with HEAD’s film program and time with crews known for creative park and natural-hit skiing. The influence is practical: a model for riders who want to evolve from bibs to cameras without losing the technical clarity that contests demand.



Geography that built the toolkit

Sweden’s park ecosystem and long winters shaped Granbom’s base. Repetition at Kläppen kept timing sharp; spring and early-summer blocks around Innsbruck—Nordkette Skyline Park and Axamer Lizum’s Golden Roofpark—added variety in speed control and jump shapes. Western trips to Mammoth Mountain extended seasons and delivered long run-ins that reward consistent swing weight. For powder and natural features, he has looked north to Riksgränsen, west to British Columbia’s interior zones, and east to the Alps; Japan’s Hokkaidō has provided deep-snow canvases for playful airs and butters. That map—Scandinavia → Alps → North America/Japan—explains the blend of precision, flow, and terrain reading in his current work.



Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Granbom rides skis from HEAD’s freeski line, outerwear from Stellar Equipment, and a Ruroc helmet, with support from Deuter (packs) and NOCCO (performance drinks). For progressing skiers, the useful part is less the logos and more the systems thinking behind the setup:

• Pick a park/all-mountain twin with a mount point that preserves switch stability while leaving tail for presses and butters. Keep swing weight predictable across “training” and “shoot” skis so timing carries between venues.
• Edge prep should match the day: lightly detune contact points for rails and butters, keep underfoot bite for icy in-runs, and refresh base structure before big scaffolding jumps to manage speed on salted surfaces.
• Boot–binding feel beats stiffness at all costs. A consistent ramp angle and elastic binding feel make carve-in sets and late grabs more reproducible across different jump shapes.



Why fans and progressing skiers care

Granbom’s value is clarity at speed. He lands tricks that look great on replay—clean sets, long grabs, and composed ride-aways—and he applies those habits in films and event formats that reward style as much as difficulty. For developing riders, his blueprint translates directly: plan the approach line first, choose tricks that use the whole obstacle, and build a two-trick jump roster (forward and switch) you can execute in different wind and surface bands. For fans, the reward is edits and live segments that feel intentional rather than chaotic—modern freeskiing that’s easy to watch, analyze, and learn from.



Quick reference (places)



Principal sponsors

Instagram
1 video
Miniature
B-Dog - Casablunted
Park
Brady Perron Emil Granbom
01:40 min
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