SSCV snowboarder wins FIS Snowboard Junior World Championship slopestyle title

When Brooklyn DePriest slid to the bottom of his second run in the slopestyle finals at the FIS Snowboard Junior World Championships on Tuesday, he pulled out his phone. He wasn’t about to check live results — his 91.00 was firmly atop the leaderboard, after all.

Instead, he called his mom.

“I was like, ‘hey, bummer I didn’t land that, but in any case, I’m happy with how I did,” DePriest recalled telling her as she watched the livestream back in the U.S.

---

---

“But, I’m just hoping this score holds.”

It did.

---

---

In fact, no one else eclipsed 90 as DePriest became the first American to win the event since Chris Corning — who was born in Summit County and now lives in Eagle County — went back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. France’s Romain Allemand finished second and New Zealand’s Rocco Jamieson rounded out the podium. When the final competitor failed to find speed — a reoccurring theme in the nightmarish conditions persistent throughout — and stalled out on a straight-air final jump, DePriest soaked in the moment as his parents celebrated on the other end of the line.

“This whole season, that was my goal,” the 18-year-old said.

“I had been thinking about it, visualizing it, trying everything in my power to make it come true. So, when it actually happened, it was like, ‘oh my god, this is real life.’ Like, this is what I’ve been thinking of for the past six months.”

Maybe more like seven, actually.

At the 2023 Junior Worlds in New Zealand last September, DePriest placed sixth in the slopestyle and fifth in the big air event. The disappointment of barely missing the podium reshaped his expectations in Italy.

“I really wanted to not just be on the podium,” he said. “I wanted to win.”

Applying pressure is part and parcel with performance, DePriest said.

“It’s a little bit of a sense of urgency,” he said regarding his mindset. “You’re not being negative on yourself, but you’re pushing yourself to the point where your body — it’s almost like fight or flight going down the run. Like, there’s no other option but stay on your feet.”

Staying grounded wasn’t easy during Sunday’s qualification. Snow dumped on Mottolino Snowpark and gale-force winds slowed the 2026 Olympic venue further, eventually forcing a postponement of the heats halfway through DePriests’ group. While athletes in Heat 1 finished both runs (and got to rest until Wednesday’s final) Heats 2 and 3 only made it halfway through when the action was paused. DePriest wasn’t a big fan of the decision.

“I’m a little bit biased because I was in first after my run, but regardless, we knew the conditions were going to get way, way worse, and we saw that in finals,” he said, referring to the uphill winds and falling snow which arrived two days later.

“It was horrible. The conditions could not have been much worse.”

Heats 2 and 3 were completed the morning of March 26, with finals run later in the day. Instead of dwelling on any potential unfairness, DePriest “focused on being consistent enough to make it through another round of qualification before putting it together in the finals.”

On Wednesday, organizers made a collective decision to remove the third jump on the qualification course, which explains — at least in part — why DePriest “only” notched a 76.66 in the round. The introspective snowboarder identified areas for self-improvement, too.

“It was a course change along with me just improving my run,” he said. “Not necessarily upping it, but by cleaning it up.”

In the final, he slid both rails to the end, planted sturdy landings and found speed where others did not. On the first rail pad, he rode a backside blunt, same way, through the downslide down rail . He went backside 270 onto the down bar of the second rail pad, riding perpendicular into his 270-degree exit. The 1260 mute grab he executed on the first jump led to a 1080 melon on the second — the one place he maybe left something on the table.

“I just didn’t choose a very good line,” he said. A ridge formed as course workers pushed accumulating snow to the sides of the jump and as DePriest cut over for his setup carve, he slowed into the sluff. “I lost at least 5-10 feet on the jump,” he said, adding that he took 180-degrees off the trick as a result.

“I knew I wasn’t going to land where I wanted to.”

Still, everything worked out in the end. With big air qualifications on Thursday — DePriest posted the third-best qualifying mark in Heat 3 — there hasn’t been much time for celebrating. Still, with a full-season of automatic World Cup starts in his back pocket for 2024-25, DePriest understands the magnitude of the accomplishment.

“Being on top of that podium is something, one, I’ll never forget. And two, that just changed everything for my snowboard career,” he said.

“I look at it almost now less as a win and more of a huge milestone towards my ultimate goal of being in the Olympics. It’s definitely a feeling I’ve never had before and hopefully I’ll feel again soon.”