Monday Motivation: Johansson banks Triple-Triple with Crankworx Slopestyle victory
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Swede breaks record at third of four 2023 World Tour stops.
Emil Johansson continued his fairytale run on the Crankworx World Tour by winning the Crankworx Innsbruck Slopestyle event on Saturday to break Brandon Semenuk’s record for the most number of Slopestyle golds with 12.
SATURDAY, JUNE 24: DAY FOUR
After his incredible run over the last few years, Swede Johansson battled through tricky Saturday wind conditions and a superb display from Poland’s Dawid Godziek to triumph with a winning score of 97.25.
Swiss rider Lucas Huppert and Italian Torquato Testa both put down impressive runs first time out with their scores of 85 and 83.25 behind the best score of 92.50 that Johansson racked up.
Second time around, Swede Max Fredriksson (82.12) and French duo Paul Couderc (79) and Timothé Bringer (80.87) rose up the leaderboard before Godziek put down a brilliant 95.25 on the back of combos like a triple tailwhip on the first hip to then a cashroll barspin on the next jump, to a cashy whip on the final jump to overtake Johansson.
The Swede, though, is a class above in Slopestyle at the moment and he put together an historic, impeccable run of 97.25 to break Semenuk’s record and clinch the Triple Crown of Slopestyle Award for 2023 – the third time that he has achieved it.
Johansson, 24, said: “It was unreal. I felt like I nearly had a heart attack after the first run because the wind was affecting me so much. When I got halfway down the course, I could just feel the wind and I thought ‘I just gotta make it down this time, please!’. Then making it down, I was so out of breath, I’m glad that one worked out. Then sitting up top and seeing when Dawid bumped me – it’s tough knowing that you actually have to pull out the things you’ve been prepping for.”
He added: “I did an oppo 3 windshield wiper on the last one, I did an oppo 3 unturndown to regular double downwhip. I brought the switch truck to double downwhip out in Rotorua and that kind of opened up my mind to how I can flip this and make it different. It feels unreal as Semenuk for me is the GOAT. He has been a huge influence as well as multiple other riders. Definitely a surreal moment.”
Huppert, who claimed his first Crankworx podium in third, said: “The level was insane, the conditions were super tough. One of the reasons I cased the first hip and had to do a tailwhip on the second one was due to the wind. Somehow I could muster through it and make a run happen.”
