Halfpipe World Cup comes back to Copper Mountain

Aug 31, 2018·Freeski Park & Pipe

Training
2017 Toyota U.S. Freeskiing Grand Prix at Copper, CO
Photo: Sarah Brunson/U.S. Ski & Snowboard

Copper Mountain, USA - The 2017/18 FIS Ski halfpipe World Cup gets back to business with the first competition of the North American winter this week in Copper Mountain, USA, where the full line-up of the always-strong US squad will face the best of the rest of the world in a crucial showdown for PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games qualification points. Qualifications at Copper go down on Wednesday, 6 December, with finals slated for Friday, 8 December.

The first halfpipe contest of the 2017/18 season took place way back on the first day of September in Cardrona (NZL), where Canada’s Cassie Sharpe and the USA’s Alex Ferreira stepped up to take down the season’s maiden victories. Since then, however, there’s been three-and-a-half months without a major contest, and with so much time to train and prepare for field on hand at Copper we can expect to see a level up in the competition this week.

Along with Sharpe, the top ladies to watch this week include host nation representatives Maddie Bowman and Devin Logan, the latter of whom famously became the first freeskier to win the FIS Freestyle overall crystal globe back in 2015/16 and will be making her 2017/18 World Cup debut this week. And, with Bowman and Logan owning the gold and silver medals, respectively, from the Sochi 2014 Games, expect the two of them to be looking for strong results this week as they shoot for some more hardware in Korea this February.

The support cast for the US ladies isn’t bad either, with Annalisa Drew and Brita Sigourney both capable of making the halfpipe podium on the right day.

However, things aren’t going to be easy for any of the above-mentioned athletes with the likes of Marie Martinod (FRA) and Ayana Onozuka (JPN) dropping in on Copper’s pipe this week. With Martinod fresh off of a halfpipe crystal globe-winning season in 2016/17 (the second of her career) and Onozuka the proud owner of a gold medal from the Sierra Nevada 2017 world championships, you those two are going to be rolling into Copper Mountain looking for more hardware.

Over on the men’s side, all eyes will be on Gus Kenworthy and Torin Yater-Wallace, as the explosive US duo will be looking to make some noise in their first major competition of the season.

Though their teammates such as Alex Ferreira, who now has two World Cup victories in a row dating back to last season, and Aaron Blunck, who took halfpipe gold last March at the Sierra Nevada 2017 world championships, have taken more in the way of World Cup accolades in recent season, Kenworthy and Yater-Wallace are considered to be two of the very best freeskiers in the world. Heading into Olympic competition at Phoenix Park in February, where Yater-Wallace took the victory last season at the Olympic test event World Cup in spectacular fashion, these two giants of the halfpipe world should be battling for top spot at Copper.

The international field will have something to say about that, however, with French powerhouses Kevin Rolland and Benoit Valentin leading the way.

Rolland was the victor last season at Copper Mountain, and comes into this season’s competition flying high, fresh off of his second-straight crystal globe winning campaign. Possibly the most driven athlete on the halfpipe circuit, Rolland would love nothing more than to upstage the stacked US squad on their home soil.

Valentin, meanwhile, finished 2017/18 only four points back of his buddy Rolland in the crystal globe chase and, similarly, found himself ranked second at last year’s Copper Mountain competition behind his compatriot. With a third place finish at the Copper World Cup back in 2014, Valentin could finish his podium collection at the US resort with a win this week.

Other athletes to watch out for include Canadian contingent that includes Simon D’Artois, Mike Riddle, and Brendan Mackay, two Kiwi brother duos of Byron and Beau-James Wells as well as Nico and Miguel Porteous, and nearly anyone else on the US team, including Sochi 2014 gold medallist David Wise. Though Wise struggled somewhat last season, he remains one of the most technically sound halfpipe skiers in the world and a consistent podium threat.

Qualification action in Copper Mountain gets underway at 10:00 local time on Wednesday, while finals are slated to begin at 11:00 local time on Friday.

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