Wind Kills the Party: How High Gusts Wrecked the 25th Red Bull Rampage and Left No Men's Champion
It was supposed to be the most meaningful edition of freeride mountain biking's most dangerous spectacle. The world's best freeride mountain bikers returned to the rugged desert terrain of southwest Utah as the event celebrated its 25th anniversary. The original venue on Kolob Terrace Road — the place where Rampage was born — was back on the schedule for the first time in a generation. Red Bull Rampage returned to the original venue on Kolob Terrace Road where the first Rampage took place back in 2001, a location known affectionately by fans and riders as the OG site. Everything was set for a landmark moment. Then the wind showed up, and the whole thing fell apart.
After months of planning and a week of digging, and after a few incredible runs, weather forced organizers to cancel the men's Red Bull Rampage mid-competition. The competition was supposed to celebrate the event's 25th anniversary, but dangerous winds brought the action to an early end on Saturday, October 10th. No champion was crowned. No podium was awarded. For the men who poured weeks of labor, physical risk, and emotional investment into their runs, the afternoon ended not with celebration but with silence and disbelief on the Utah desert cliffs.
What Actually Happened on the Mountain
Every October, the best mountain bikers in the world descend on the desert near Virgin, Utah, to compete at the legendary Rampage event, an invite-only freeride mountain biking competition. Riders and their teams spend the week leading up to the event constructing their runs in the steep desert landscape, before they take two attempts to complete their individualized runs on competition day. This year, that week of construction happened at a venue loaded with history, which made the lead-up feel electric. Seventeen men had earned invitations. All of them had dug, sculpted, and shaped their personal lines into the sandstone ridges. Then finals day arrived.
Seventeen riders were scheduled to compete at the original Red Bull Rampage venue where athletes built massive lines across the rugged desert terrain, but only nine riders completed their first full runs before conditions became too dangerous to continue. Strong winds associated with nearby storms intensified late in the morning, with gusts reaching more than 20mph at times, and organizers ultimately decided that continuing the competition would pose too great a risk to riders, staff, and spectators. The wind socks up and down the mountain weren't just fluttering — they were going berserk. Wind socks were swirling and twirling up and down the mountain as gusty winds were especially strong at the top of the chute near the starting line.
The severity of the conditions became clear in real time during the broadcast. Utah local Finley Kirschenmann, the final rider to attempt a run before the halt, was visibly weighing his options from the top of the course. "It is not safe out anymore," Kirschenmann said during the livestream on YouTube as he debated starting his ride. That kind of candor from a competitor about to drop into one of the most dangerous freeride courses on earth says everything about what conditions had become. Riders at Rampage are not easily spooked. When they're talking openly about safety, the situation is genuinely dangerous.
The organization delayed any decision while waiting for a possible window of better conditions, but the forecast was not favorable, and the definitive cancellation of the men's final was finally announced. The prior forecast had already warned of stronger winds on Saturday and an even greater worsening for Sunday, with storms associated with a tropical system approaching the area. There was no realistic window. By early afternoon, it was over.
The Rulebook Problem: Why Godziek Doesn't Get a Trophy
Here is where the story takes a turn that stings most for the riders who did manage to get down the mountain. Polish rider Szymon Godziek led when the race was canceled, posting a 90-point score in an exhibition of precise and confident riding. Before the cancellation, Godziek had delivered one of the day's standout performances with a run that included a double-drop to canyon gap, a steep chute, and several major tricks, and judges awarded him a score of 90, putting him in first place when the competition was halted. Szymon Godziek posted the highest score of the day with 90.00 points, ahead of Jaxson Riddle with 85.87 and Kade Edwards with 84.12, although those positions never became an official result.
The reason comes down to Rampage's own competition rules, which leave no wiggle room. The rulebook immediately became a factor: for a winner to be declared, every rider had to be given the opportunity to complete at least one run. Because that requirement was not met, the men's final officially ended without a winner, even though a provisional leaderboard was already in place when competition was stopped. Eight riders — men who had spent just as much time, energy, and risk building their lines as anyone else — never got their shot. The competition could not in fairness be called complete, so it was not called at all.
Tom van Steenbergen, one of the riders who never got a run, captured the gut-punch of it on Instagram: "Heartbreak and disbelief. Never felt better going into an event in my life. I truly felt like this was my year. To never find out what would have happened is going to eat me alive. But we live to fight another day." Van Steenbergen is a veteran of the event, and last year Zablotny took the top spot at Rampage in his rookie year, while van Steenbergen snagged third place. A man who genuinely believed 2026 was his moment walked away with nothing to show for it — not even an official score.
The Riders Who Did Drop: Standout Performances That Never Made the Record Books
Szymon Godziek: The Provisional Leader
Godziek's run was the kind of thing that reminds you why people make pilgrimages to the Utah desert every October. The Polish rider, one half of the Godziek family duo that has left its mark across multiple disciplines of mountain biking, put together a technically precise, stylistically confident performance that earned him 90 points from the judges — the highest score posted all day. A double-drop to canyon gap, multiple major tricks, and a line that showed both bravado and intelligence. It was exactly the kind of run that wins Rampages. Except that in 2026, nothing wins Rampage.
Jaxson Riddle: The Utah Local Who Delivered
Jaxson Riddle, who was second-place in the standings before the event's cancellation, combined his unique FMX-inspired tricks with some big features to score an 85.87. Just like last year, the first thing Riddle did at the finish line was get a great big hug from his young son. Riddle said the moment was special on the 25th anniversary of the Rampage, even if his time won't go into any official record book. For Riddle, a rider whose freeride style is rooted in motocross DNA, this edition was personal. It happened on the OG site, in front of his family, on the 25th anniversary of an event he grew up watching. The wind stole the trophy but couldn't erase that.
Kade Edwards: The Rookie Who Shocked Everyone
Even though Kade Edwards was a Red Bull Rampage rookie, the Brit looked at home in his run. The 26-year-old charged down the mountain, exuding style and creativity right out of the gate on his first feature with a nose-bonk suicide no-hander. His run blended downhill racing speed, skatepark style, and big-mountain terrain, and creative tricks like an impromptu nose manual and no-foot can on one of his drops earned him the Best Style award. Edwards landed third on the provisional leaderboard with an 84.12, and his was arguably the run of the day from a pure creativity standpoint. A first-time Rampage finalist who skews away from pure trick-difficulty and leans into flow and style — he was something genuinely new on that hillside.
Connor Gallart: A Debut Born in Alaska
Gallart, in his debut performance at the Rampage and in one of his first competitive races, safely went from the start line at the top of the mountain to the finish line at the bottom, posting the best time among rookie riders. His backstory is one of the more remarkable ones to come out of this edition. Gallart's vision of finishing the Rampage was hatched on a U.S. Coast Guard ship in Alaska, where he served before moving to Hurricane a year and a half ago so he could train in the red rocks. "I'm just happy, and my family is here, and I just have nothing but joy and happiness to be here," Gallart said. In a field of professional athletes sponsored by major brands and shaped by years in the mountain bike industry, the former Coast Guardsman who moved to southern Utah to chase a dream is the kind of character that keeps the sport human.
Carson Storch and the Helicopter That Stopped the Show
Before the wind became the central story of the day, the morning's most frightening moment belonged to Carson Storch. Before the wind ultimately brought the event to a halt, the final had already produced several crashes, with the most concerning being the Carson Storch crash, which saw him thrown from his bike on a very steep section before being evacuated by helicopter. The broadcast later reported that he was conscious and alert, and organizers subsequently confirmed that he had been medically cleared and was returning to the Rampage venue. Carson Storch suffered a massive crash during his first run and had to be evacuated from the venue in a helicopter.
The news that he had been cleared was a relief broadcast to the crowd and the livestream audience. That Storch was later honored with the Kelly McGarry Spirit Award — named for the legendary New Zealand rider who embodied Rampage's soul — was a fitting acknowledgment that sometimes the bravest thing at Rampage is simply getting back up. Paul Couderc also crashed while attempting a huge front flip drop, although he was able to get back up and continue riding. Bienvenido Aguado Alba suffered another crash after missing a 360 drop but continued his run and finished with 52.50 points. The day, even in the nine runs that were completed, was a reminder that these lines are not performance art. They are genuinely life-threatening efforts.
The Awards That Were Given: Honoring Excellence Without a Podium
With no official winner and no podium, the special awards took on more weight than usual. Despite the absence of an overall winner, the Red Bull Rampage 2026 special awards were still presented: Paul Couderc received the Utah Sports Commission Best Trick Award for his Flatdrop Backflip, while Bienvenido Aguado Alba earned the BFGoodrich Tires Toughness Award. Couderc's build team of Louis Reboul and Jeremy Berthier won the Cat Compact Digger Award; Kade Edwards received the Oakley Meta Style Award, and Carson Storch was honored with the Kelly McGarry Spirit Award.
Paul Couderc produced one of the standout moments with a Flatdrop Backflip that ultimately earned him the Best Trick award, while Bienvenido Aguado Alba attempted a 360 drop and continued his run after crashing. Aguado's determination to finish despite the crash — posting a score of 52.50 while bloodied and rattled — was the kind of gutsy performance that defines what the Toughness Award is meant to celebrate. Creative tricks like an impromptu nose manual and no-foot can on one of his drops earned Edwards the Best Style award, which left him speechless. "To get the Best Style award was amazing," Edwards said.
A Question of Planning: Why Is Rampage Still Vulnerable to This?
The gut reaction after watching a weather cancellation wipe out the 25th anniversary of the sport's biggest event is not just disappointment — it's frustration. And it's a frustration that extends beyond fans to industry observers who have watched this scenario play out before. Weather has forced organizers to cancel second runs in the past and base scoring off of riders' first runs — while that was less than ideal, this year's situation is, obviously, worse.
It's hard to understand how such a major event still does not have a solid contingency plan for weather that would allow the event to continue at a later date. Other organizers have learned from skiing — snow events like Freeride World Tour have a longer window for competition than a single day or two days. The World Surf League also has a longer weather window. The comparison to surfing is particularly sharp. The WSL has perfected the art of the waiting period — events are held across multi-week windows, with competition triggered when conditions align. It is a model that accepts weather as a variable rather than treating a single calendar date as inviolable.
The Freeride World Tour, which sends skiers and snowboarders down remote mountain faces with similar levels of danger and spectacle, operates on extended weather windows that allow organizers to reschedule runs when conditions deteriorate. The model works. It preserves results. It keeps years of work from evaporating in an afternoon.
Rampage is a different beast — the lines are custom-built over an entire week, and the terrain doesn't reset the way a ski run does. But the argument for a multi-day weather window, or at minimum a rescheduled backup day within the same week, is hard to dismiss after watching 25 years of history produce an edition with no men's champion. What a huge bummer for riders and crews that spent so much time preparing. Red Bull has the resources, the infrastructure, and the brand equity to find a solution. The question is whether the will exists to do it.
Historical Context: Has This Happened Before?
Rampage has always lived in a complicated relationship with the elements. The southern Utah desert is not a controlled environment, and the wind that funnels through the canyon corridors of the Virgin area is notoriously unpredictable. Previous editions have seen second runs cancelled with results based on first-run scores alone, which at least preserved a competitive outcome. Red Bull Rampage, one of action sports' most iconic events, returned to the towering cliffs of southwest Utah to mark 25 years of freeride mountain biking. What began as a raw expression of big mountain freeride has become the sport's ultimate proving ground, shaping mountain biking's biggest names and most defining moments.
In those 25 years, the event has survived format changes, venue changes, and global pandemic cancellations. It has produced careers, broken bones, and created some of the most watched moments in action sports history. Brandon Semenuk's four titles, Kurt Sorge's back-to-back dominance, the late Kelly McGarry's canyon gap backflip that became a permanent piece of internet history — Rampage has always been bigger than any single edition. But a 25th anniversary with no men's champion, on the original venue, is a wound that won't heal cleanly. The irony is brutal: the edition meant to honor the event's legacy became the one that couldn't finish.
What It Means for the Riders Going Forward
For the eight men who never got their first run, this is not simply a competitive loss. It is a logistical and physical sacrifice that will take months to metabolize. Riders and their teams spend the week leading up to the event constructing their runs in the steep desert landscape. That means days of manual labor at altitude, digging and shaping features by hand under the southern Utah sun. The physical toll of that preparation week is real. Then to pack up and drive home without a result is a particular kind of hollow.
Van Steenbergen said he never felt better going into an event. His candor suggests a man who had arrived in Virgin with genuine belief. For him and for riders like Hayden Zablotny — who won the whole thing last year as a rookie — the rules of Rampage state that every competitor must have the opportunity to complete at least one run for a champion to be crowned. That rule, designed to protect fairness, ended up being the mechanism that erased the day entirely.
The riders who did get runs will carry those performances differently. Godziek knows he was fastest on the mountain when competition stopped. The cancellation brought an unusual ending to an edition in which the provisional standings had pointed toward an open battle between Godziek, Riddle, and Edwards. With several riders still waiting for their first opportunity and weather conditions incompatible with the level of risk involved at Rampage, there was no regulatory or sporting basis for turning an incomplete leaderboard into a final result. The sport is better for maintaining that standard. But it doesn't make the sting go away.
The Women Had Their Day — And That Matters
One detail worth noting in the full picture of Rampage 2026 is that the women's competition, held earlier in the week, did reach a conclusion. Robin Goomes made Red Bull Rampage history with a third straight win in 2026. The women's event — now in its early years of existence within the Rampage structure — ran cleanly and delivered a champion. The fact that the women's competition completed while the men's did not is not a talking point to score points on either side; it is simply a logistical reality that the scheduling window and the weather aligned differently for each day. But it does mean that 2026 will go into history as a year when Rampage produced a women's champion and no men's champion — a strange and unprecedented outcome for an event celebrating a quarter century of existence.
What Comes Next
Red Bull has not announced any formal response to the cancellation in terms of rule changes or weather window adjustments. The Rampage format has evolved significantly over the decades — from its raw 2001 roots to a two-day co-ed event with global broadcast partners — and there is no reason to believe it cannot evolve again. Red Bull Rampage, one of action sports' most iconic events, returned to the towering cliffs of southwest Utah to mark 25 years of freeride mountain biking. What began as a raw expression of big mountain freeride has become the sport's ultimate proving ground, shaping mountain biking's biggest names and most defining moments. That evolution has always been driven by the tension between what is wild and what is viable as a sport. Building in a genuine weather contingency — a backup day, an extended window, some mechanism that preserves the year's work — would not soften Rampage's edge. It would just make sure that edge gets used.
The riders will be back. The desert will be waiting. The lines will be dug again. And somewhere in the plans for 2027, the men who never got their run in 2026 will be riding with something extra burning in them — the unfinished business of the anniversary edition that the wind took away.
