Emil Johansson grew up in Falun, Sweden, riding dirt jumps before he was old enough to compete. Born in 1999, he turned pro as a teenager and announced himself to the wider mountain bike world in 2017, when, still just 18, he claimed the overall Crankworx FMBA Slopestyle World Champion title in his rookie season on the tour.
The early peak was followed by a stretch on the sidelines. Crippling joint issues kept him from full-time competition for nearly two years, and many in the sport wondered whether he would return at the same level. He did. Johansson came back stronger, more technical, and more consistent than anyone before him, stringing together perfect seasons and rewriting what a slopestyle run could look like.
In 2023 he completed his third Triple Crown of Slopestyle as part of a flawless campaign on the Crankworx World Tour. By 2025, after a brutal stretch that included four surgeries (broken collarbone, cracked rib, concussion, and shoulder and hand operations across 2024 and into 2025), he returned to Whistler twelve weeks after his last hospital stay and won Red Bull Joyride for the fourth time, a 91.00-point first run that secured his record-extending 14th Crankworx slopestyle gold.
Today Johansson is widely considered the best slopestyle rider in history, but his focus has broadened. He has expanded into freeride, contesting Red Bull Rampage in Zion (2019, 2023, 2025) and earning Best Style honors in 2023. He still calls Falun home, still trains at the dirt jumps where he started, and still shows up to win.
