Kim repeats on home soil and Totsuka steals the crown in Aspen 2021 halfpipe
Mar 14, 2021·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Storm Xylia held off almost as if the organisers here at the Aspen 2021 FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Championships had requested it, as what was forecasted to be the biggest winter weather event in a decade didn’t start dumping snow until the last post-event interview was in the bag, thus allowing Chloe Kim (USA) and Yuto Totsuka to show their best on the way to claiming Aspen 2021 halfpipe gold medals.
While the freeski slopestyle World Championships on Saturday morning saw some gusty wins throughout competition, come time for the snowboarders to drop in on Buttermilk Mountain’s perfect halfpipe the wind had calmed down and the snow held off, and we saw some incredible riding from the eight women and 10 men in the finals.
Kim makes it back-to-back home soil golds
Chloe Kim has been nearly unbeatable in the Buttermilk halfpipe since she dropped in on her first X Games competition here seven years ago. With five wins and seven podiums in seven X Games Aspen starts - including at this season’s event six weeks ago - Kim knows this venue better than just about anybody in the world right now, even at just 20 years of age. On Saturday she proved that fact once again, throwing down a new run with aplomb to walk away with her second-straight World Championships title.
Kicking things off on her second run with a backside 360 indy, Kim then launched into a switch backside air that would have been exceptional as a regular air in most of the men’s runs, before linking that standout moment into a switch frontside 1080, a frontside 900 tail grab, and finally capping her run off with a classic, picture-perfect McTwist to earn a score of 93.75 and essentially seal the deal.
And, as it turns out, Kim did everything that she did on Saturday while barely able to walk after a mishap in training.
“I’m feeling really good,” she said about taking her second World Championships gold medal, “I’m grateful to be out here. So happy that the weather held out for the contest. Super happy that I was able to pull through. I actually kind of sprained my ankle in practice so it’s been a little challenging. Really happy I was able to put down those first two runs. Winning feels pretty good.”
Second place for the women went to Kim’s compatriot and fellow 20 year-old Maddie Mastro, who put down perhaps the best run of her career on her third and final attempt to nab silver. Packing in the hits, Mastro went frontside 900, backside 540 weddle, frontside cork 720, Haakenflip 720 stalefish, and then a stomped a massive double crippler before finishing off with a backside air for a score of 89.00 and her second career World Championships medal.
Third place and the bronze medal went to the veteran Queralt Castellet of Spain, as the 31 year-old also had to rely on her third and final run for her best score, beginning things off with a gutsy switch backside 540 into switch frontside 720 combo and ending up with a score of 87.50. Like Mastro, Castellet’s medal was the second of her World Championships career, though it came in her seventh world champs start.
Totsuka goes all-in with five dubs to end James’ reign
The men’s competition signalled the end (for now) of the Scotty James era, at least when it comes to World Championships dominance, as the Australian great who has owned World Champs gold for the past six years and three-straight world champs competitions was finally forced to relinquish his titled at the hands of an extraordinary effort from Japan’s Yuto Totsuka.
While James put down a clean first run for a score of 90.50 and Totsuka washed out early in his first attempt, in run two Totsuka announced that he had come to play for real, stomping a top-to-bottom for a score of 93.00 and putting the pressure on James.
Dropping immediately after Totsuka in that second run, James sketched out on his second hit, leaving it up to his final run if he was to earn a record-setting fourth-straight World Championships gold.
However, to complicate things for James, on his third and final run Totsuka dropped in and, quite simply, went off.
Starting off with a massive frontside double cork 1440, Totsuka then proceeded to drop a switch frontside double cork 1260, into a switch backside double cork 1080, then a backside double cork 1260, and finally a mind-bending frontside double cork 1260 on his final hit into the final bit of transition to launch his score up to 96.25.
While we know James can top that score with his best run, on Saturday it just wasn’t there, and once again his second hit was his downfall as he washed out to end his bid for Aspen 2021 World Championships gold.
While Totsuka’s English isn’t as strong as his riding, his few words said it all - “I am happy now. A dream come true.”
James would have to settle for second place and the silver medal, with his first run of a switch backside double cork 1260, switch frontside double cork 1080, frontside 540 stalefish, backside double cork 1260, and frontside double cork 1260 the one that would stick for his fourth-straight World Championships podium.
Third place for the men went to Jan Scherrer (SUI), who carried on a tradition of bronze medals for the Swiss team that goes back three World Championships competitions now, with his teammate Patrick Burgener earning those last two medals at Sierra Nevada 2017 and Utah 2019. Burgener injured his knee just days before he was slated to fly out to Aspen and was unable to compete.
With slopestyle and halfpipe competition now finished, all that’s left on the Aspen 2021 World Championships programme is the big air competition, with qualifications slated to take place on Sunday beginning at 9:40 MST and finals on Tuesday. However, with the above mentioned winter storm Xylia finally sinking its teeth in and the snow coming down, the schedule is still somewhat up in the air. Updates will be posted on our social media channels throughout the day.
TRICK LIST
WOMEN:
GOLD - Chloe Kim (USA): backside 360 indy, switch backside air, switch frontside 1080, frontside 900 tail grab, McTwist indy
SILVER - Maddie Mastro (USA): frontside 900, backside 540 weddle, frontside cork 720, Haakenflip 720 stalefish, double crippler, backside air
BRONZE - Queralt Castellet (ESP): switch backside 540, switch frontside 720, frontside 540 melon, backside 900 weddle, frontside 900 melon
MEN:
GOLD - Yuto Totsuka (JPN): Frontside double cork 1440, switch frontside double cork 1260, switch backside double cork 1080, backside double cork 1260, frontside double cork 1260
SILVER - Scotty James (AUS): Switch backside double cork 1260, switch frontside double cork 1080, frontside 540 stalefish (aka skyhook), backside double cork 1260, frontside double cork 1260
BRONZE - Jan Scherrer (SUI): backside double cork 1260, frontside double cork 1080, switch frontside double cork 1080, frontside double cork 1260, alley-oop frontside 540 stalefish
QUICK LINKS:
Aspen 2021 Virtual Media Hub (extended podium quotes and much more)
