Famous for its groundbreaking stunts, Red Bull has done it again with this year’s ‘Unrailistic’ course.
Some of the world’s best skiers took to Åre, Sweden, to compete in Red Bull Unrailistic — a slopestyle skiing competition featuring the most difficult and creative rail features in the world. Unrailistic began in 2015 as a video edit by Swedish skier Jesper Tjäder and, in 2023, became an annual competition, with Tjäder designing the rails. 2026 is Red Bull’s third Unrailistic competition (it was not held in 2025), and this year, the energy drink company brought out some of Tjäder’s craziest ideas.
Unrailistic is a co-ed event with both men’s and women’s divisions.
This year’s course had a total of six unique sections. The top section featured a cable that pulls skiers UP the course. The section included two up-curved boxes that send skiers multiple feet into the air, giving them the time to pull off difficult flips and maneuvers. The second section was the multi-material section, featuring rails made out of chains, rope, wood, ice, concrete, and textured metal. A skateboard-like mini ramp made up the third section.
The fourth section is where the features started to get huge. A 15-foot (4.5-meter) rainbow rail and a “battleship-banana transfer” box made section four appear the most intimidating for skiers. The fifth section contained two large S-shaped rails, called “ketchup and mustard,” alongside a set of 15 rails set up in a “plinko” shape, designed for hopping from rail to rail.
The course finished off with a challenging “ice cream” rail.
Unlike the course, the competition format was simple: 16 skiers, two runs each, with scores ranging from 0 to 100. A skier’s total score comes from their best run, combined with a best trick score.
Three American skiers competed in the event. Hunter Henderson and Tucker Fitzsimons represented the United States in the men’s field, and Rylie Warnick was the lone American competitor in the women’s division.
In the men’s division, 16-year-old Melvin Seliberg stole the show and came away with the victory. On his final run, the young Swedish skier paired an impressive trick on the rainbow rail with completing the plinko section, boosting him to a first-place finish with a score of 81. Impressively, the young Seliberg defeated Tjäder, the contest’s designer and fellow Swede, who came in second with a 74. Canadian Evan McEachran earned a 71 and came in third.
Warnick went on to win the women’s division, marking the first American to make the podium at Unrailistic. The Utah native took a challenging line, hitting both the rainbow rail and the plinko section. Despite falling off early on the rainbow rail, Warnick was able to earn a 36, which would be enough to win the division. Canadian Elena Gaskill would take second place in the women’s division with a score of 32.
“Was incredible getting to ride these rails,” Warnick wrote in an Instagram post following the event.
After a stressful season that included an Olympic Games, Red Bull ‘Unrailistic’ proved to be a fun, stress-free event for its competitors. The skiers were all smiles throughout the event, and lots of hugs and congratulations were given to the podium finishers.
‘Unrailistic’ will return for its fourth year in 2027, and we can only imagine what creative features Tjäder and Red Bull will come up with next.
