Kimbo sessions 2026

Kimbo Sessions 2026 ran at Kläppen Snowpark in Sweden from April 27 to May 2 | More than 70 invited riders | Riders of the Week: Manon Loschi and Elias Syrjä | Format: six-day unjudged freeski session

Ten Editions Return To Kläppen

Kimbo Sessions 2026 took place from April 27 to May 2 at Kläppen Snowpark in Sälenfjällen, Sweden, completing the event's delayed tenth edition after the 2025 gathering was cancelled because of insufficient spring snow. Founder Kim Boberg again turned his home park into a custom late-season playground rather than a conventional slopestyle contest. Kläppen announced more than 70 VIP invited riders from around the world, with Tormod Frostad, Alex Ferreira, Joss Christensen, Matej Svancer and Øystein Bråten among the internationally established names skiing during the week.

Boberg And Forsell Build A Park Without A Scorecard

Boberg designed the 2026 setup together with Anders Forsell of Snowpark Consulting, rebuilding Kläppen around transitions, rails, jumps, transfers and unconventional lines intended to produce different interpretations from every skier. The event deliberately operated without judges or prize money. Riders were free to repeat features, change lines and respond to what other skiers were doing instead of assembling runs for a numerical score. The format preserved the film-session origins of Kimbo Sessions, which began around the production of Oil & Water at Kläppen in 2014. The resort described the modern event as a place where invited athletes push each other to develop freeskiing through free riding rather than formal competition.

Syrjä Støle And Ormio Earn Their Way Into The Invite

The tenth edition also opened part of its traditionally invitation-only roster. Finland's Elias Syrjä and Norway's Leander Støle earned places through the Spring Sessions and Kimbo Open pathway immediately before the main gathering, while Finnish skier Mainio Ormio received an invitation through an earlier video contest. Syrjä's route became one of the defining stories of the week. Entering as a late addition, he attacked the hip, transfers and technical park sections throughout the session and turned an earned invitation into one of the event's two principal rider-voted awards.

Loschi And Syrjä Become The Riders Of The Week

Kimbo Sessions does not produce a traditional gold silver and bronze podium. Instead, the invited skiers vote at the end of the week for the riders who made the strongest impression across the entire session. Manon Loschi received the women's Rider of the Week award after bringing her freeride background into the park with hand drags, butters, transitions and technical variations. Elias Syrjä took the men's award after repeatedly skiing the park's larger and more creative options. Their selections reflected peer recognition rather than judging scores, making them the closest equivalent to overall winners at Kimbo Sessions 2026.

More Than Seventy Riders And A Different Kind Of Freeski Field

The 2026 roster combined contest champions, film skiers, Scandinavian park specialists and riders better known for freeride terrain. That diversity is central to the event's structure. An Olympic medalist can share a feature with a skier who qualified only days earlier, and neither is constrained by a competition start order. Kläppen's official announcement specifically highlighted Frostad, Ferreira, Christensen, Svancer and Bråten within a field exceeding 70 invited athletes. The custom build gave that group enough variety to separate into different sessions while still feeding tricks and line ideas back into the same park.

Monster Armada And The Tenth Anniversary Films

The tenth edition was presented by Monster Energy, with Armada, Tyrolia, Kläppen Ski Resort, PistenBully, Arsenic Anywhere, Snowpark Consulting and other partners supporting the gathering. Filmmakers Björn Eklund and Ante Olofsson documented the week through a three-part recap series, preserving the skiing alongside shaping work, the Kimbo Kitchen and the atmosphere surrounding the sessions. Kläppen's official account described the park as a redesigned version built specifically around riding and progression. After the cancelled 2025 anniversary attempt, the six days from April 27 to May 2 finally delivered Kimbo Sessions' tenth edition on snow at the venue where Boberg's original gathering had started more than a decade earlier.