Guseli looks to reel in Totsuka in Halfpipe Crystal Globe battle at Silvaplana season finale

Olympic Halfpipe champion Yuto Totsuka (JPN) is within striking distance of recording his best World Cup season yet and potentially winning two Crystal Globe trophies at this week’s Halfpipe World Cup season finale in Silvaplana (SUI).

Totsuka currently leads the men’s Halfpipe standings on 396 points going into the seventh and final Halfpipe World Cup of the 2025/26 FIS Park and Pipe season, which begins on Tuesday 24 March in Silvaplana.

Halfpipe qualifications were originally scheduled to begin on Wednesday 25 March but the women’s competition was brought forward by one day due to forecasted challenging weather conditions. The men’s Halfpipe competition will commence as scheduled on Wednesday.

Totsuka’s only challenger for the season trophy in the men’s field of 22 in Silvaplana is Australia’s Valentino Guseli, who trails Totsuka by 46 points with 350 to his credit.

Totsuka, 21, also leads the overall men’s Park and Pipe standings on 396 points but with a smaller margin over Guseli’s 379 points thanks to the Australian’s Big Air and Slopestyle results.

Totsuka is already a three-time Crystal Globe winner after he topped the standings in 2021 and earned back-to-back honors in 2019 and 2018, but those seasons did not include an Olympic gold medal.

The absence of some of Totsuka’s teammates – such as Milano Cortina 2026 bronze medalist Ryusei Yamada, three-time Crystal Globe winner Ruka Hirano, and Beijing 2022 gold medalist Ayumu Hirano – also leaves the podium wide open for rookies such as Mischa Zuercher (SUI).

The 18-year-old was third at the recent FIS Park and Pipe Junior World Championships in Calgary (CAN), and before that Zuercher was seventh at his first World Cup final in January, also in Calgary.

Joining Zuercher in Silvaplana are teammates David Habluetzel, Jonas Hasler. Habluetzel was runner-up at the Calgary World Cup in January behind Guseli, while Hasler was fourth. Hasler, Habluetzel and Zuercher are among eight Swiss men on the Silvaplana start list.

In the women’s field, three Swiss riders are among the women’s field of 15 in Silvaplana: Isabelle Loetscher, Lura Wick and Soha Janett. Loetscher recorded her first World Cup podium in Calgary in January with third place, while 17-year-old Wick was runner-up at the FIS Park and Pipe Junior World Championships earlier in March.

Last season’s Halfipipe Crystal Globe winner Maddie Mastro (USA) returns to World Cup competition this week for the first time after Milano Cortina 2026. The 26-year-old was 12th in Italy and in her two World Cup starts this season finished outside of the top five.

Mastro is joined by U.S. teammates and Milano Cortina 2026 Olympians Madeline Schaffrick and Bea Kim, who are also returning to World Cup competition for the first time since January.

Nineteen-year-old Kim was third in the U.S. Grand Prix in Copper just before the Christmas break, while Schaffrick was fifth, before the 31-year-old bettered that result with second place at the second U.S. Grand Prix in January at Aspen’s Buttermilk resort.

The top three on the women’s Halfpipe World Cup season rankings are already set ahead of competition this week in Silvaplana, with 17-year-old Gaon Choi (KOR) locked in to earn the Crystal Globe after a season in which she won a perfect three-for-three of her World Cup starts while also claiming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic gold. 

Just behind Choi’s 300 points is Rise Kudo (JPN) with 296, while Sena Tomita (JPN) rounds out the top three with 278 points to her credit. With none of the women’s top three on hand in Silvaplana, and also none of the four riders who could mathematically catch any of those top three on hand either, there will be no changes to the season’s overall podium this week.

The top-ranked rider who is on hand on the women’s side in Silvaplana is seventh-ranked Ruki Tomita (JPN), with 176 points. The 24-year-old was fifth at the most recent Sapporo Ban-K World Cup earlier in March, and the last time Tomita claimed a World Cup podium was at the 2024 Laax Open when she was third.

This year’s Halfpipe season finale marks the first time that Silvaplana’s Corvatsch area will host a FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup since the new pipe opened in March 2024. The venue previously hosted the 2025 FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Championships.

QUICK LINKS

• Silvaplana Halfpipe World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring)

• 2025/26 Halfpipe World Cup standings