Kuhn becomes surprise Aerials world champion, Roth delivers huge score to retain title
Mar 30, 2025·Freestyle
All season long, Kaila Kuhn (USA) had been knocking on the doors of success.
On March 30, on one of the biggest stages and when it mattered most, those gates finally opened for the 21-year-old.
The American was crowned world champion at the 2025 FIS Freestyle, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships when she emerged top of the field with a 105.13-point effort.
It is a feat that makes Kuhn the first aerialist to take two gold medals at a single edition of the world championships.
She did so by virtue of stomping a lay-full-full, making her the only female skier to cross the 100-point threshold in the superfinal.
For a young up-and-comer who spent the season crossing over to triples without making a World Cup podium, becoming world champion was most unexpected to the victor herself.
“This is the biggest surprise and I could not be happier,” said Kuhn, who now adds the individual title to a team crown she was involved in days earlier.
On her lay-full-full, she said: “I trained that trick all summer. I decided to put it down when it counted, so I’m super excited.”
Kuhn finished ahead of reigning Olympic champion Xu Mengtao (CHN), who was second after scoring 99.16 points with a back full-full-full.
Competing in Switzerland held special meaning for the veteran, who was returning to a country where her first overseas competition was 18 years ago.
Australia’s Danielle Scott (AUS) took third place with 96.93 points.
Notably, three out of the six athletes in the superfinal were Chinese, testament to the depth of China’s aerialists. Such was the quality of the competition that even Laura Peel (AUS), the newly-crowned Crystal Globe winner, was squeezed out of the superfinal.
Swiss delight on home snow as Roth reigns again
In the men’s competition, Swiss skiers delighted the partisan supporters by taking two out of the three spots on the podium.
Noé Roth (SUI) retained his 2023 title to become back-to-back world champion on home snow, landing a back double full-double full-full.
He scored a massive 143.31 points, one of the highest posted in Aerials competition and certainly the top at a world championships.
“Best job I’ve ever done in my life,” said Roth. “To do it here at home, at worlds, it’s incredible.”
Quinn Dehlinger (USA) took second place with a 123.53-point effort, while Pirmin Werner (SUI) added to Swiss success with a third-place score of 107.12 points.
“First time doing a hurricane in competition,” said Werner. “Can’t be prouder of us. Noé’s pushing me all the time in training so that we can perform at a home world championships.”
This wraps up freestyle skiing’s campaign at the world championships.
QUICK LINKS
Engadin 2025 FIS data page (start lists, results, etc)
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