Davos Raw

Profile and significance

Mario Grob is a Swiss freeski athlete whose competition record is documented in the international results system of the FIS. Born in 1999 and listed from Ennetbuehl, Switzerland, Grob’s publicly verifiable results sit in the judged freestyle disciplines: freeski halfpipe, freeski slopestyle, and freeski big air. His clearest early milestone came at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games, where he represented Switzerland and finished sixth in men’s ski halfpipe at Oslo Vinterpark in Norway.

That Youth Olympic selection is useful context because it marks him as part of Switzerland’s competitive park-and-pipe pipeline. During the same event week he also started men’s slopestyle at Hafjell and placed 17th. In the years after, his strongest results point to halfpipe as the discipline where he found the most traction: 10th in halfpipe at the 2017 FIS Junior World Ski Championships in Crans-Montana, followed by standout Swiss-based results on the FIS circuit. In the FIS database he is currently listed as not active.

Competitive arc and key venues

Grob’s timeline reads like a practical blueprint for how many Swiss freeskiers build experience: repeated starts at home, mixed with selective trips abroad to test themselves on different pipes and different judging panels. His early recorded international entries include European Cup and FIS appearances in Austria, and by late 2015 he also had FIS halfpipe starts at Copper Mountain in the United States. The Youth Olympic Games in February 2016 then put him into a higher-pressure environment and across two contrasting formats, halfpipe in Oslo and slopestyle in Hafjell.

From 2017 onward, the record becomes heavily Switzerland-centered. He continued to enter national championship halfpipe contests in LAAX and added frequent starts in Swiss resorts that regularly host park-and-pipe competition. The strongest cluster of results arrives in 2018 and early 2019: he won FIS halfpipe events in Crans-Montana and Davos in 2018, then in February 2019 at Grindelwald he placed third in halfpipe and fourth in big air on the same day. Those paired results are a useful snapshot of versatility across pipe and jump formats within the same competitive window.

How they ski: what to watch for

Because Grob’s best recorded finishes cluster in halfpipe, that discipline is the clearest lens for interpreting his competitive strengths. Halfpipe judging rewards difficulty, but it also punishes messiness: amplitude, clean takeoffs, controlled grabs, stable body position in the air, and landings that preserve speed for the next wall are what separate a “landed run” from a run that contends. When you watch a pipe skier, look for rhythm and for a line that stays consistent from wall to wall rather than speeding up and slowing down. The best pipe skiing often looks calm in the transitions, even when the tricks are complex.

His results across halfpipe and big air also suggest comfort with airtime management. Big air compresses the pressure into a handful of jumps where takeoff timing and axis control decide whether a trick looks deliberate or improvised. For viewers, the evaluation checkpoints are simple: clean pop, controlled rotation, early landing spot, and a ride-away that does not require a corrective skid or hand drag.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Park-and-pipe competition is repetitive by design, and that repetition is where resilience shows up. Pipes demand hundreds of training laps to understand a specific wall shape, and big air demands repeated attempts to match speed with the day’s snow and wind. Grob’s multi-season record across Youth Olympics, Junior Worlds, national championships, and FIS points events reflects that grind: travel, practice days, qualifiers, and the ability to reset after falls.

There is not a widely documented public filmography attached to Grob in the way there is for the most visible freeski stars. His footprint is clearest in competition results rather than headline street segments or major feature films. For readers, that makes him a clear example of the contest pathway, where judging literacy and repeatable execution are the currency.

Geography that built the toolkit

Grob is listed from Ennetbuehl in the broader Toggenburg region of eastern Switzerland. If you want a sense of that setting, the nearby destination page for Ennetbühl-Rietbad captures the local mountain context. Switzerland’s freestyle pathway typically involves travelling between regions to chase the best parks and pipes, and his results reflect that movement across the country’s freestyle hubs and selective trips abroad that expand the skill set.

The venues tied to his best-known results are also instructive. Norway’s Youth Olympic builds at Oslo Vinterpark and Hafjell tested him on unfamiliar snow and shapes, while Swiss hubs such as LAAX, Davos, and Grindelwald provided repeated opportunities to refine timing and consistency. Pipes and jump profiles vary by resort, and athletes who compete across venues tend to get better at adapting speed checks and staying composed when the course feels different from what they trained on.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

The public athlete database does not list Grob’s skis, boots, or binding partners in a way that can be treated as definitive, so it is more responsible to focus on the practical demands of his disciplines. Halfpipe and big air skiing generally favors stable twin-tip skis with reliable edge hold for firm pipe walls, boots that support repeated high-impact landings, and bindings mounted to keep swing weight predictable in spins. Protective gear is also part of the job: helmets are standard, and many athletes add back protection when training pipe and jumps frequently.

If you are trying to extract something actionable, prioritize consistency over hype. A dependable edge tune, boots that let you absorb landings without collapsing, and a stance that feels balanced on takeoff will improve your runs more than copying a setup you have not tested. When an athlete’s exact partners are not publicly confirmed, the most reliable “equipment lesson” is to watch the skiing: speed control, takeoff timing, and landing stability reveal what the setup is trying to optimize.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Mario Grob is a useful name for fans who like tracking the development layers underneath freeskiing’s global headliners. His record includes a meaningful early marker with a sixth-place Youth Olympic halfpipe finish, followed by Swiss-based competition and standout halfpipe results on the FIS circuit, including event wins and a Grindelwald halfpipe podium alongside a strong big air placing the same day. That arc illustrates the depth that keeps the sport progressing behind the scenes.

For progressing skiers, his pathway offers a practical way to watch and learn. In halfpipe, train your eye on rhythm, amplitude, and landings that keep momentum for the next wall. In big air, focus on takeoff timing, axis control, and whether the skier rides away without correction. Following athletes whose verified results span both formats can sharpen your understanding of what judges reward and what athletic skills sit underneath a “good-looking” run.

Profile and significance

Nalu Nussbaum is a Swiss freeski athlete from the Engadin region, competing in freestyle events under the FIS system. Born in 2001 and affiliated with Freestyle Engadin through his FIS athlete profile, he represents a very specific kind of modern European freeski pathway: a home base built around a top-tier snowpark culture, paired with steady starts on the European Cup circuit and select World Cup appearances.

His significance is rooted in where he comes from as much as what he scores. The Upper Engadin has a long-standing freestyle identity, and Nussbaum’s story is often framed as a family continuum within that scene. The result is an athlete who is closely tied to the local park that helped shape him, while also showing up in the wider contest landscape where slopestyle and big air are judged on repeatable execution under pressure.

Competitive arc and key venues

Nussbaum’s competitive record is concentrated in freeski slopestyle and big air, with European Cup and European Cup Premium starts forming the backbone of his résumé and several World Cup entries punctuating the timeline. In the World Cup arena, he has competed at LAAX in slopestyle and at Chur in big air, with his Chur World Cup big air start in October 2023 standing out as an important benchmark because city-style big air asks athletes to deliver high-difficulty spins in a compact, high-exposure setting.

On the European Cup side, his results show the profile of an athlete working upward through depth-heavy fields rather than popping up for a single outlier. A sixth place in European Cup slopestyle at La Clusaz in February 2025 is one of his strongest finishes at that level, and a fourth place in European Cup big air at Davos Klosters in February 2023 sits just off the podium in a discipline where small execution differences can move an athlete multiple places. He has also logged multiple top-ten style data points across the circuit, including big air and slopestyle appearances at venues that regularly draw strong European fields.

Earlier in his career, he posted notable development results, including a third-place finish in a FIS-level slopestyle event at Glacier 3000 in December 2019 and a second-place result at a national junior championship slopestyle in March 2019. Taken together, the pattern is clear: early contest competence, followed by sustained attempts to translate that foundation into higher-level consistency.

How they ski: what to watch for

Nussbaum is best understood as a park-first freeski athlete whose skiing sits in the overlap between slopestyle logic and big air priorities. In slopestyle, the most revealing traits are not just the “headline” spin, but the way a rider manages tempo between features: speed control into rails, cleanliness of takeoffs, and the ability to land with enough composure to keep flow through the next section. In big air, the tell is whether the trick looks premeditated and calm at full height, with a stable axis and an assertive landing that does not bleed speed or confidence.

Because his home scene is closely connected to Corvatsch Park, it makes sense to watch for the kind of riding that park cultures reward over time: predictable pop, controlled rotations, and an emphasis on style that holds up even when conditions are not perfect. That “park craft” matters when trying to climb the European Cup ranks, because judges tend to reward athletes who can repeat their intended run shape cleanly rather than those who merely flirt with high difficulty.

There is also a visible cultural crossover in his public footprint. He has been referenced by Faction Skis as appearing in the “Magma” project “TKO,” described as a mix of mountain and street-oriented segments. That context suggests a freeski identity that is not limited to contest runs: the kind of rider who can appreciate how tricks look and feel in filming environments, where creativity and feature selection can matter as much as the scoreboard.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Progressing through high-level freestyle skiing is as much about resilience as it is about talent. Slopestyle and big air are unforgiving to “almost” landings: a slight under-rotation or a small loss of balance can erase a season’s worth of training in a single run. Nussbaum’s record shows years of starts across multiple seasons, which is often the quiet indicator of persistence: showing up, rebuilding, and continuing to test the ceiling in environments where fields are deep and margins are thin.

His influence is also locally cultural. In the Engadin, the Nussbaum family is described as having deep roots in the freestyle scene, and Nalu is often positioned as a next-generation continuation of that culture. That matters for viewers because it frames his skiing as something shaped by place and community, not only by contest schedules. In a sport where progression can be isolating, riders who are closely tied to a scene often help keep that scene visible and aspirational for the next wave.

Geography that built the toolkit

The Upper Engadin is a high-alpine environment that tends to produce technically sharp park skiers: colder snow, reliable winter seasons, and a rhythm of park laps that encourages repetition. Nussbaum’s identity is frequently connected to Corvatsch and to Corvatsch Park in particular, a venue known for hosting competitions and for drawing serious freestyle attention in the Alps. That kind of home terrain is a powerful teacher because it keeps the skill loop tight: learn a trick, repeat it until it looks clean, then carry it into contests.

At the same time, his competition venues show a broader Swiss and European circuit education. LAAX represents a globally recognized freestyle hub, while Davos Klosters and Chur add variety in how features are built and how pressure feels. Layer in the cultural center of St. Moritz and the local identity of Silvaplana, and you get a geography that reinforces both skill and story: a rider shaped by a specific place, yet measured against a wider field.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Nussbaum’s FIS athlete profile does not list specific equipment, and public-facing partner details are not consistently verifiable. The most useful approach, then, is to focus on what his disciplines require from gear and setup. For slopestyle and big air, predictability is king: skis and boots that feel consistent on takeoff and stable on landing, bindings that deliver a reliable platform, and a tune that holds edge without feeling grabby when snow changes texture across a day.

For progressing freeskiers who look at his pathway as a template, the practical takeaway is to match equipment to the job. If your season is built around parks like Corvatsch Park, you benefit from a setup that supports centered balance and repeatable pop. If you travel to different venues, you need enough stability to handle unfamiliar snow and faster in-runs without losing the calm posture that judges reward. The gear is not the story by itself, but the right setup makes it easier to show your actual skiing on the day it counts.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Nalu Nussbaum is a name to know for fans who care about the “middle engine” of freeskiing: the athletes building careers through European Cup circuits, home-scene legitimacy, and occasional World Cup appearances while aiming to turn potential into higher-tier results. His strongest markers are consistency of participation and credible finishes in competitive fields, paired with a clear home identity in the Engadin freestyle ecosystem.

For skiers trying to progress, his story highlights an honest truth about modern freeski development. Big air and slopestyle success is rarely a straight line. It is built from repeatable fundamentals, patient season-to-season refinement, and the willingness to keep showing up until the execution matches the ambition. Watch him with that lens, and you are not only tracking an athlete’s results—you are watching the process of becoming better at freeski, one start at a time.