{"id":1886144,"date":"2026-04-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1886144"},"modified":"2026-04-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T21:00:00","slug":"the-uninvited-invitational-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1886144","title":{"rendered":"The Uninvited Invitational 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock since Covid, you\u2019ll know just how much we at Whitelines love the Uninvited Invitational. For years, we\u2019ve championed it as one of the events pushing snowboarding forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

The atmosphere is always electric, the course is consistently spectacular, and the riding? Jaw-dropping.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, for the first time in a while, we weren\u2019t able to attend in person which was genuinely heartbreaking. <\/span>But as we tuned into the livestream, a thought hit: we\u2019re watching the best female snowboarders on the planet compete for one of the biggest prize purses in the world ($60,000), broadcast live to the entire planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the dream, right? This is progress. This is the vision Jess Kimura set out to build back in 2018 \u2014 unfolding in real time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Let\u2019s take a moment to breathe that in.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>
Jess kicks things off with bang.
Photo: Stephan Jende<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n

The event took place over 3 days with 70 riders from 17 countries throwing down across two qualifier days on Ben Bilocq\u2019s course, all battling for a spot in finals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Riders were judged on control, style, trick selection, difficulty and overall \u201cwow\u201d factor. It\u2019s not just about what you land, but how you do it \u2014 and how you carry that energy through the entire run. The result? Plenty of room for style to shine, which suits the video-part heavy riders in the field perfectly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>
Himari Takamori puts on a style masterclass.
Photo: Stephan Jende<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking of the course \u2014 this year saw the return of a fan favourite: the Batting Cage, aka \u201cNicolas Cage\u201d. This time it came in two flavours \u2014 a wallride and a rail feature \u2014 both wrapped in a satisfyingly raw layer of rust and wear that gave the whole setup a properly street-ready feel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>
Henna Ikola goes up to bat.
Photo: Rosemeyer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you haven\u2019t watched the full stream yet, scroll down and hit play<\/span><\/p>\n

Take note of the big crowd, smiling faces and hyped up snowboarders despite the less than ideal weather (including a full blown lightning storm)\u2026 it tells you everything you need to know about the magic of the Uninvited Invitational.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

FULL AWARD RESULTS<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1st \u2013 <\/span>Himari Takamori<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $15,000<\/span><\/p>\n

2nd \u2013 <\/span>Jess Perlmutter<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $11,000<\/span><\/p>\n

3rd \u2013 <\/span>Livia Tann\u00f2<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $8,000<\/span><\/p>\n

4th \u2013 <\/span>Hinano Sakamoto<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $6,000<\/span><\/p>\n

5th \u2013 <\/span>Bella Warren<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $4,000<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Trick \u2013 <\/span>Himari Takamori <\/b>\u2013 $2,000 (backtail back 270 on the dugout feature)<\/span>
\n<\/span>Quarterpipe Nicolas Cage \u2013 <\/span>Stefi Luxton<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $2,000<\/span><\/p>\n

YETI Rookie \u2013 <\/span>Miyu Oishi<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $1,500<\/span>
\n<\/span>The North Face Never Stop \u2013 <\/span>Yuri Takizawa<\/b><\/a>\u00a0 \u2013 $1,500<\/span><\/p>\n

Livestream People\u2019s Champ \u2013 <\/span>Henna Ikola<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $1,500<\/span>
\n<\/span>Switch Boss \u2013 <\/span>Selin Lakatha<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $1,500<\/span>
\n<\/span>Style Boss \u2013 <\/span>Henna Ikola<\/b> \u2013 $1,500<\/span>
\n<\/span>Dark Horse \u2013 <\/span>Mela Stalker<\/b><\/a> \u2013 $1,500<\/span><\/p>\n

Baldface Stoke \u2013 <\/span>Midori Oshima<\/b><\/a> \u2013 <\/span>Trip to Risk Maturity or Low-Maintenance<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

YETI Standouts<\/b><\/h3>\n

DAY 1<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Himari Takamori <\/b>\u2013 ($500)<\/span><\/p>\n

Marie Kuhlmann <\/b>\u2013 ($500)<\/span><\/p>\n

Jess Perlmutter <\/b>\u2013 ($500)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

DAY 2<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Mela Stalker <\/b>\u2013 ($500)<\/span><\/p>\n

Henna Ikola <\/b>\u2013 ($500)<\/span><\/p>\n

Midori Oshima <\/b>\u2013 ($500)<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>
Top 5 Podium
Photo: Stephan Jende<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Watch the full livestream:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Uninvited Invitational<\/i><\/b> is presented by The North Face<\/span><\/p>\n

Supported by YETI, Subaru USA, Woodward Park City, Nidecker, Fat Tire, CAPiTA Snowboards, Union Binding Co., Sun Bum, SALTT, Smith Optics, Coal Headwear, Baldface Lodge, and Slush Magazine.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Header Photo: Marie Kuhlmann by Stephan Jende<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unless you\u2019ve been living under a rock since Covid, you\u2019ll know just how much we at Whitelines love the Uninvited Invitational. For years, we\u2019ve championed it as one of the events pushing snowboarding forward. The atmosphere is always electric, the course is consistently spectacular, and the riding? Jaw-dropping. This year, for the first time in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,280],"class_list":["post-1886144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-whitelines-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1886144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1886144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1886144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1886144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1886144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}