Final || Jennie-Lee Burmansson vs. Naomi Urness || SLVSH CUP GRANDVALIRA '26

Profile and significance

Jennie-Lee Burmansson is a Swedish freeski athlete who broke into the global spotlight as a teenager and proved she could hold her own in the most technical corner of park skiing: women’s slopestyle. Listed as an active athlete by FIS (born July 12, 2002), she’s best known for an extraordinary first World Cup season that ended with a slopestyle Crystal Globe. That achievement matters because it wasn’t built on one surprise run; it was built on repeatable execution across venues, snow conditions, and course designs—exactly the kind of consistency that separates a “clip skier” from a true contest threat.

Her significance for freeski fans is twofold. First, she helped define what top-level women’s slopestyle looked like in the late 2010s: clean rail sections, controlled speed, and spins that look deliberate rather than frantic. Second, her career is a case study in how the sport develops young talent: start with strong fundamentals and course literacy, then expand into big air confidence and rail-focused formats as the discipline evolves. Even for skiers who don’t follow rankings closely, Burmansson’s name is tied to a rare combination of early peak and verified results across the biggest stages in freeski.

Competitive arc and key venues

Burmansson’s competitive story is anchored by her 2017–18 slopestyle run on the FIS World Cup circuit. She debuted at Cardrona in August 2017 with a podium, then followed up with a World Cup win at Stubai Glacier in November 2017. She kept stacking results through the winter with a second place at Font-Romeu in December and another second place at Mammoth Mountain in January. By the time the season reached Switzerland, her third place in Silvaplana effectively sealed the discipline title, and FIS described her as having already clinched the slopestyle Crystal Globe, making her the youngest FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup winner of all time.

That World Cup season wasn’t just a points story; it was a venue story. Cardrona is a Southern Hemisphere benchmark where athletes show what they built in the off-season. Stubai Glacier often delivers firm, fast snow that exposes mistakes on takeoff edges and rail balance. Font-Romeu is known for compact speed and rail precision, and Mammoth Mountain rewards athletes who can keep momentum through long landings. Burmansson proving she could score across all of them is what made the globe feel legitimate rather than “lucky.”

Her Olympic chapter arrived immediately. At the 2018 Winter Games, she reached the women’s slopestyle final at Phoenix Snow Park and finished eighth in slopestyle in her Olympic debut, as shown in her FIS record. In the same calendar year, she added a major invitational win by taking women’s ski big air gold at X Games Norway in Oslo, with the event’s official communications noting she won gold in her X Games debut. She also earned a women’s ski slopestyle bronze at X Games Aspen during that winter, making 2018 a rare “teenage breakout” season that includes both a World Cup title and X Games hardware.

After the early peak, her results show a career that kept moving rather than freezing in time. She returned to high-level starts at later World Cups and also maintained domestic success, including Swedish national titles at Kläppen (with wins listed in her FIS results). More recently, she has appeared in formats beyond classic slopestyle, including a Freeski Rail Event result on the European Cup circuit in 2025 in Innsbruck, which signals a natural adaptation as women’s freeski competition expands into more rail-specific arenas.

How they ski: what to watch for

Burmansson’s skiing is often described through a single word: smooth. That doesn’t mean easy. It means she prioritizes a calm upper body and clean timing so that tricks look intentional from start to finish. In slopestyle, that quality is gold because judges reward execution and flow, and because a run that looks controlled usually is controlled. The best way to watch her is to focus on the top of the course: how she sets her line into rails, how early she commits to balance, and how well she exits each feature with speed still intact.

Her 2017–18 results also hint at a specific skill set: run completeness. Athletes can often land the jump line but leak points on rails, or they can be rail technicians but lose amplitude on booters. Burmansson’s breakthrough season happened because she delivered both. In Silvaplana, FIS even published a trick list that shows the kind of technical rail entry and controlled spin selection she used in finals—details that reflect a rider thinking in sequences rather than isolated tricks. When she’s at her best, the line reads like one continuous decision: rails that stay quiet and centered, then jumps where grabs are timed, not rushed.

In big air, what stands out is composure on a single feature. Big air strips away the “run” and forces athletes to deliver when they have fewer chances and higher consequence. Her X Games Norway win in Oslo is a reminder that her skill set isn’t only about rail finesse; it includes the ability to commit to speed, takeoff precision, and clean landings when medals are decided by one moment. If you’re evaluating her as a viewer, watch the approach: does the athlete look hesitant, or do they look like the jump belongs to them? Burmansson’s best big air moments look owned, not survived.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Being a prodigy is not the same as building a long freeski career, and Burmansson’s influence is partly about making that transition visible. Her early World Cup title set expectations at an age when many athletes are still learning how to manage travel, pressure, and the realities of training cycles. The fact that she continued to appear in international results after the “teen champion” season, and later expanded into rail-centric competition formats, speaks to a modern kind of resilience: staying relevant while the sport’s trick trends, course builds, and judging preferences keep shifting.

Her presence has also extended beyond start gates through participation in film and media projects that highlight women’s freeski progression. While contest results are the cleanest public record, freeski culture is built just as much through crews, trips, and edits as it is through podiums. Athletes who come up in slopestyle often carry the same mindset into filming: repetition, precision, and the willingness to dial a trick until it looks effortless. That approach is visible in Burmansson’s public identity—more “make it clean” than “make it chaotic”—and it’s a style that many skiers try to copy because it holds up in both competition and real-world park sessions.

Influence also shows up in what younger skiers think is possible. Coming from the Swedish ski scene and reaching a World Cup title at 15 validated a pathway for kids who aren’t growing up in the biggest North American resort systems. For European park skiers, especially in Scandinavia, her early success was a signal that technical rails, tidy grabs, and disciplined run-building could beat bigger reputations when the skiing is simply better on the day.

Geography that built the toolkit

Burmansson is strongly connected with the Sälen area in Sweden, and that geography helps explain both her fundamentals and her comfort in park environments. Sälen is known as a major Swedish winter destination with a strong youth skiing ecosystem, and it’s the kind of place where progression can be built through volume: lots of days on snow, lots of repetitions on familiar features, and a season rhythm that makes park training feel normal rather than special. That kind of mileage is exactly what slopestyle champions are made of, because the sport rewards athletes who can land their run when it matters, not only when it’s a perfect practice day.

Domestic Swedish competition and training venues also show up in her FIS history, including national championships at Kläppen. That’s a meaningful detail because national events are often where athletes experiment: they can test new trick choices, learn how to handle pressure as a favorite, and refine rail and jump selections in a setting that still matters but feels less punishing than a World Cup final.

Internationally, the venues that shaped her are a map of modern slopestyle. Cardrona represents early-season proving ground culture. Stubai Glacier represents the technical discipline of firm-snow competition. Font-Romeu and Silvaplana represent European course styles that often demand rail fluency and clever line choices. Mammoth Mountain represents North American speed and amplitude expectations. Add in an invitational big air win at X Games in Oslo, and her geography becomes a clear explanation for her toolkit: she learned to score on rails and still go big when the format demands it.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Burmansson’s FIS profile does not consistently publish a complete equipment list, which is common in freeski where athletes may change setups across seasons and disciplines. However, public athlete listings have associated her with Völkl skis, MARKER bindings, and Dalbello boots. Whether a viewer is shopping for the same brands or not, the practical lesson is what that kind of setup is designed to support: balanced, switch-friendly park skiing with durability for rails and predictable pop for jumps.

For progressing skiers, the takeaway is about building trust in your gear rather than chasing marketing. Slopestyle and big air demand a twin-tip platform that feels symmetrical so switch takeoffs don’t feel like a different sport. Bindings should feel solid and consistent because inconsistent release or vague response makes skiers ski defensively, and defensive skiing destroys both style and safety. Boots matter most for fit: a boot you trust lets you land more attempts, and more attempts are how you develop the calm control that defines Burmansson’s best runs.

There is also an underrated equipment lesson in her career arc: as athletes move into rail-focused formats, edge tuning and base maintenance become even more important. Smooth rail performance isn’t only “talent”; it’s also speed control, predictable slide, and a setup that doesn’t surprise you mid-run. If you want to ski with the same “quiet confidence” that shows up in her strongest seasons, prioritize repeatability: consistent mounting, consistent boot fit, consistent maintenance, and enough time on snow to make everything feel automatic.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Jennie-Lee Burmansson matters because her résumé captures a rare kind of freeski credibility: she didn’t just appear, she won. A slopestyle World Cup title and Crystal Globe on FIS, an Olympic final in 2018, and an invitational big air win at X Games in Oslo are the kind of anchors that keep an athlete relevant even as the sport’s trick standards evolve. For fans, she’s a reminder that style and execution still matter when difficulty gets crowded. For skiers who are trying to progress, she’s a blueprint for what actually scores and what actually holds up: clean rails, controlled speed, and runs that look composed from the first feature to the last landing.

She is also a useful athlete to watch because her strengths are teachable. You can’t instantly copy someone’s rotations, but you can learn from how they approach a rail, how they manage speed, and how they keep their upper body quiet through technical sections. If you want to evaluate a run the way judges and experienced skiers do, Burmansson is a strong reference point: the best skiing often looks simple, because the athlete did the hard work beforehand. That combination—teenage world-title proof and a style-first approach—makes her a lasting name in women’s freeski.

Profile and significance

Naomi Urness is a Canadian freeski slopestyle and big air athlete from Mont-Tremblant, Québec, quietly becoming one of the most consistent young park skiers on the NorAm circuit. Born in 2004 and raised in a family deeply involved in freestyle, she started skiing at age three, joined the Mont-Tremblant Freestyle Club at eleven, and moved steadily through provincial, national and international ranks. She now rides for Freestyle Canada’s NextGen slopestyle/big air program, a stepping stone toward full World Cup status, and represents both her home resort and local shop partners in competition.

Urness’ résumé already includes a fourth place in big air and sixth in slopestyle at the 2022 FIS Junior World Championships in Leysin, Switzerland, along with a growing collection of NorAm podiums. In the 2024–25 season she stacked top-three finishes across North America, including wins and podiums at Mammoth Mountain, Copper Mountain, Aspen and Stoneham. Those results, paired with her selection as the 2019 recipient of Momentum Ski Camps’ Spirit of Sarah scholarship, mark her out as more than just another strong junior. For Canadian freeski fans, she is one of the clearest emerging names in women’s park skiing, with realistic ambitions of moving onto the World Cup circuit and eventually the Olympic stage.

Competitive arc and key venues

Urness’ competitive arc is a classic modern Canadian freeski pathway, compressed into a few intense years. After early seasons in the Québec freestyle system and regional events at her home hill of Mont-Tremblant, she began appearing in national-level start lists and earned selection for the Canada Winter Games representing Québec. That experience of multi-sport games pressure, complete with provincial colours and live scoring, set the tone for the next step of her career.

The real breakthrough came in 2021–22 when she travelled to Leysin for the FIS Junior World Championships. Against a strong international field, she finished fourth in women’s big air and sixth in slopestyle, a result that instantly validated her potential on the global stage. Those performances fed directly into Freestyle Canada naming her to the NextGen slopestyle/big air team in 2023, giving her structured support, coaching and a clear runway toward World Cup qualification.

Since then, the NorAm circuit has been her primary proving ground. Across the 2023 and 2024–25 seasons she has become a regular on the podium: multiple second places in slopestyle and big air at Stoneham and Calgary, back-to-back slopestyle podiums at Copper Mountain and Aspen, and a particularly dominant stretch at Mammoth Mountain where she won slopestyle and added a second place in big air. By the end of the 2024–25 season she had secured second overall in the NorAm big air standings, confirming that her junior world results were not a one-off but part of a sustained rise.

How they ski: what to watch for

Urness’ skiing is the product of hours in structured programs, airbag sessions and park laps at Mont-Tremblant. Her runs blend the composure of a race-trained skier with the freedom of modern freeski style. On jumps, she favours clean, controlled spins where the grab is held long enough to shape the trick rather than just touch for points; you often see her use switch takeoffs and solid grab variations to add difficulty without sacrificing consistency. Her fourth place in big air at Junior Worlds and repeated NorAm big air podiums underline how comfortable she is when the focus is a single, high-pressure hit.

In slopestyle, Urness builds her runs logically. She tends to open with a rail section that is technical but not chaotic, using solid lock-ins, changes of direction and tidy spin-offs to establish a strong base score before stepping into the jumps. Judges and fans notice how rarely she looks rushed; speed is managed carefully into each feature, and landings are usually driven out rather than fought. Her style is more about polish than wild improvisation, which matches the demands of high-level FIS slopestyle and big air where repeatability and control matter as much as creativity.

While her focus is primarily on park courses rather than full urban or street skiing setups, the way she skis rails shows the influence of that culture. Lines are compact, purposeful and built to link one feature smoothly into the next. For progressing riders, her runs are a strong study in how to use fundamentals—good stance, clean edging, committed grabs—to keep climbing the competitive ladder without rushing into tricks that are not ready.

Resilience, filming, and influence

Behind those results sits a story of resilience that local media in Mont-Tremblant have already highlighted. As a teenager, Urness broke her humerus in a training crash, an injury that required months away from snow and a careful return to impact. In interviews she has described the mix of fear and excitement that comes with trying something new, and how “good fear” becomes part of the process for any big air or slopestyle skier. Coming back from that break to compete at Junior Worlds and then to push for NorAm overall titles shows both physical and mental toughness.

Her 2019 Spirit of Sarah scholarship from Momentum Ski Camps is another window into her character. The award is given in memory of Sarah Burke to a young female skier who shows not only potential on snow but also qualities like kindness, determination and a positive approach to life. Receiving it as a 14-year-old from Mont-Tremblant placed Urness in a small, respected group of riders across Canada, and helped fund training time on the glaciers and park lines that have become central to her progression. Today, as a NextGen team member, she represents exactly the kind of athlete that scholarship aims to support.

Influence at this stage of her career is less about starring in feature-length movies and more about visibility and example. Through Freestyle Canada profiles, regional news stories and her own clips from NorAm stops, she shows young skiers from Québec—and especially girls—that it is possible to grow from a local club to international championships while staying grounded in school and community. As she climbs the ranks, that quiet influence is likely to grow, whether or not she chooses to step more fully into filming projects later on.

Geography that built the toolkit

Geography is central to understanding Urness’ skiing. She was born and raised in Mont-Tremblant, with Station Mont-Tremblant as her home hill and a family fully invested in freestyle. Her stepbrothers and sisters all went through the same freestyle club, turning the resort into a daily training ground and playground. The terrain there—mid-sized jumps, dense rail lines, cold Québec winters and busy holiday crowds—teaches riders to be efficient and adaptable from a young age.

As her career expanded, the map of her skiing spread across North America and into Europe. NorAm events brought her to eastern parks like Stoneham, with its icy, wind-affected snow, and western venues such as Copper Mountain, Aspen and Mammoth, where larger jumps, higher altitude and rapidly changing conditions are normal. The Junior Worlds in Leysin added a Swiss Alpine dimension, with bigger mountains, different light and new snow textures. Moving through these environments season after season has built a toolkit that travels well: she is comfortable in everything from hardpack early-season laps to spring slush, on both compact NorAm courses and longer, more open World Championship-style layouts.

Equipment and partners: practical takeaways

Urness’ official profile lists support from the Québec freeski shop D-Structure and her home resort Station Mont-Tremblant. Rather than being defined by a single ski model, her setup reflects the realities of a NorAm slopestyle and big air schedule. She rides park-oriented twin tips with enough stiffness to stay stable on NorAm-sized jumps but still forgiving enough for long rail sections and repeated training impacts. For aspiring riders watching her, the key lesson is not to chase a signature pro ski, but to choose a symmetrical or nearly symmetrical park ski that feels predictable both forward and switch in the kind of parks you actually ride.

Her partnership with D-Structure and close ties to Mont-Tremblant also highlight the importance of community-based backing. Access to coaches, tuned equipment, airbags, trampolines and safe jump progression lines can matter more than logo counts on a jacket. On the protective side, slopestyle and big air at her level make a modern helmet, back protection and well-fitted boots non-negotiable. The consistency she shows in NorAm finals is built on the confidence that her gear will behave the same way run after run, whether she is dropping into a big air in Mammoth or a slopestyle line back home in Québec.

Why fans and progressing skiers care

Fans and progressing skiers care about Naomi Urness because she represents a realistic, exciting version of the freeski pathway. She is not yet a household name on World Cup podiums, but she has already proved herself against strong international fields at Junior Worlds and NorAm events, all while staying rooted in the culture of her local club. Her story shows that you can grow up at a resort like Mont-Tremblant, work through club programs, earn support like the Spirit of Sarah scholarship and NextGen selection, and end up battling for NorAm overall titles in slopestyle and big air.

For young riders, especially girls coming up through Canadian clubs, her trajectory offers a clear template. Spend time in structured training, build strong basics on rails and jumps, use local parks and airbags to progress safely, and then test yourself step by step: provincial events, national championships, NorAm starts and eventually international championships. Watching how Urness skis—how she manages speed, chooses tricks she can land cleanly and handles big days on the NorAm circuit—turns her career into a practical guide for anyone who wants to move from local park laps toward the level where World Cups and Olympic dreams start to feel genuinely within reach.