Aspen 2021: Halfpipe Preview

The second day of competition at the Aspen 2021 FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Championships will take to slopes of the famed Colorado resort on Thursday, where women’s halfpipe qualifications are slated to go down from 8:45 to 9:45 MST, followed by the men from 10:40 to 12:15. Finals are then scheduled to take place on Saturday, beginning at 13:00 - weather permitting and subject to change.

The halfpipe in Aspen has seen more top-level competition than just about any on earth at this point, and once again this week it’s in prime condition for the best snowboard from around the world who are here in the USA to battle it out for medals and lock in valuable points on their way to, hopefully, qualifying for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

WHO TO WATCH - WOMEN

• Utah 2019 podium: Gold - Chloe Kim (USA), Silver - Cai Xuetong (CHN), Bronze - Maddie Mastro (USA)

She’s back from her sabbatical, she’s the biggest name in snowboarding, and she’s the reigning World Champion - she’s Chloe Kim and she is here in Aspen and ready to defend her title.

After taking last season off to do a year of university at Yale, Kim returned to snowboarding in this strangest of all winters and promptly got back to work doing what she does best - winning snowboard halfpipe competitions and making it looking easy. Taking a win at the Laax Open World Cup in January, and then following that up the next week by dominating at X Games with her sixth win and eighth podium in eight attempts at the competition.

Kim is one-for-one in wins at the Olympics, one-for-one in World Championships wins, has eight wins and 10 podiums in 12 World Cup starts…the numbers speak for themselves, and once again this week the 20 year-old is likely to be the benchmark against which all others are measured.

Hottest on Kim’s heels is her US teammate and fellow 20 year-old, Maddie Mastro. The bronze medallist from the Utah 2019 World Snowboard Championships and the winner of the 2019 Burton US Open - where she famously became the first woman to stomp a double crippler in competition - Mastro has all the tools to push Kim to her limit in competition here in Aspen. Fresh off a runner-up performance at this past January’s X Games competition behind Kim, Mastro will be looking to take a step up the podium in the same pipe this week.

Now in her 16th season of international competition but still looking for her first World Championships gold is Spain’s Queralt Castellet. Last season was perhaps the best of the 31 year-old’s career, as she took the win in Laax and then followed that up by claiming X Games gold. With her trademark “Cannonball” style and a bag of tricks unique on tour, Castellet should very much be in the running for what would be her second career world champs medal this weekend.

Then there’s the Japanese team, featuring four strong riders who could challenge for top spot. Sierra Nevada 2017 world champs silver medallist Haruna Matsumoto comes into Aspen 2021 hot after taking silver behind Kim in this season’s X Games. Meanwhile, her teammates Mitsuki Ono and Sena Tomita both have a World Cup podium this season after finishing in second and third, respectively, behind Kim in Laax. Kurumi Iman, meanwhile, took second at last season’s X Games competition, proving that she too can slug it out with the best. Any one of the four could find the podium this weekend.

Brooke D’Hondt of Canada, Leilani Ettel of Germany, and Berenice Wicki of Switzerland are a few others to watch out for in tomorrow’s qualifications.

WHO TO WATCH - MEN

• Utah 2019 podium: Gold - Scotty James, Silver - Yuto Totsuka (JPN), Bronze - Patrick Burgener (SUI)

Just like Chloe Kim looms largest above all others on the women’s side of things, for the men it’s Scotty James (AUS) who’s name has become synonymous with halfpipe riding over the past few season. The winner of three straight World Championships titles - the only Park & Pipe rider to ever achieve such a feat - James also earned 13-straight international competition victories leading up to the World Cup finals in Calgary last season.

However, it was there at the Calgary competition where his incredible streak finally came to an end at the hands (or, board) of Japan’s Ruka Hirano, and since then James hasn’t won a competition, as Hirano’s Japanese teammate Yuto Totsuka has taken top spot at the US Open modified superpipe competition, the Laax Open, and X Games in that time period.

Anybody who knows Scotty James knows that maybe all those wins weren’t actually good for Totsuka’s Aspen 2021 gold medal dreams though, as the 26 year-old Australian is likely to be rolling into these World Snowboard Championships as motivated as he has ever been - if not more so. With James’s quest for a four-peat coming up against the recent run of success for the young Japanese squad, all the pieces are in place for the battle between James and Totsuka (and Hirano) to be an absolutely epic one.

All of the above is pretty exciting on its own, but that’s without mentioning that there’s a half-dozen or so other riders on hand capable of stepping up and disrupting that whole storyline.

Perhaps the first to mention in that list is Jan Scherrer (SUI), who claimed second at last year’s US Open, knocking James down to third. Scherrer become the first rider to land a alley-oop 900 there at Vail, and has one of the most technical bags of tricks and smoothest styles in halfpipe riding.

Speaking of unique tricks, the USA’s own Taylor Gold and his double Michalchuk 1080 aka the “Chuck Taylor” might have something to say come podium time on Saturday. Gold, along with his teammates Toby Miller, Chase Blackwell and Chase Josey should be extra motivated for world champs competition this time around after getting shut out on home soil at the last World Championships in Park City.

Germany’s Andre Hoeflich has quietly become one of the most consistent riders in the world in the past two seasons, finishing sixth or better in five of the last six World Cup competitions. He was fourth in Laax back in January, and could become the first ever German halfpipe world champs medallist if he steps it up here in Aspen.

And, finally, keep your eyes on 15 year-old Australian phenom Valentino Guseli. Guseli blew the doors off of the Laax Open in January, launching unfathomably high airs - and stomped tricks - from top to bottom to earn the top spot in qualification in his very first World Cup start. While he’d finish eighth in finals, the promise shown by the young man with the big hair and bigger amplitude bodes well for the future of halfpipe snowboarding.

WHERE TO WATCH (UPDATED):

FIS YouTube livestream (with geo restrictions)

Eurosport 1 Asia, Eurosport 2, ORF Sport+, CBC Sports Streaming, CT Sport, BNT, CCTV, SILKNET, Viaplay, SILKNET, YLE Areena, Arena4+, RAI Sport Web, Ziggo Docu, TV3, JOJ TV, SBS, Match Arena, TV 10, SRF Zwei, TRT Spor2, BBC Red Button/BBC iPlayer/BBC Sport

13:00 MST (21:00 CET) FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Championships - Snowboard Halfpipe - LIVE, Aspen, Colo., Broadcast Olympic Channel, Streaming Peacock

QUICK LINKS:

• Aspen 2021 virtual media centre (photos, interviews, news, results, TV info, schedule)

• Opening press conference recording ft. Maddie Mastro

• FIS Aspen 2021 data page (programme, start lists, live scoring, results and more)

• Photos (rights free)

• FIS Snowboard YouTube page (video highlights, podium interviews)

• TV Broadcast Info (coming soon)

• Livestream (link coming soon)