2025/26 FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup – Copper Halfpipe Stat Sheet

• This will be the 12th time a FIS Halfpipe World Cup event will be staged as part of the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain (USA). Only Whistler (CAN, 12) has hosted as many Halfpipe World Cup events as Copper.

Copper Halfpipe World Cup – Men

• The 2025/26 Halfpipe World Cup season started with three Japanese men on the podium: Ayumu Hirano (JPN) in first, Yuto Totsuka (JPN) in second, and Ruka Hirano (JPN) in third. It marked the exact same podium composition as seen at last season’s Copper Mountain World Cup. 

• Ayumu Hirano (JPN) and Scotty James (AUS) share the record for most Halfpipe World Cup wins in Copper with three each, but both will not compete this weekend. The only rider besides the aforementioned pair to record a victory in the last seven World Cup events in Copper was Ruka Hirano (JPN) in 2021/22.

• Yuto Totsuka (JPN) surpassed Ross Powers (USA) as the snowboarder with the most Halfpipe World Cup podium finishes with his second place in Secret Garden (CHN). Totsuka now has 22 podium finishes in Halfpipe events, while Powers has 21. Ruka Hirano (JPN) is now tied with Powers on 21 podiums following his third-place finish in the Secret Garden season opener.

• Ruka Hirano (JPN) has finished on the podium in each of the last five Halfpipe World Cup events. He has previously recorded a longer podium streak in his career: seven in a row between 2019 and 2022. That run included podium finishes in Copper: third place in 2019/20; and first place in 2021/22.

• Japanese men have reached the podium in every Halfpipe World Cup event in the last seven years, a run of 29 events dating back to 8 December 2018, when Scotty James (AUS), Toby Miller (USA) and Chase Josey (USA) were 1st-2nd-3rd in Copper.

• The last time a European man triumphed in a Halfpipe World Cup event dates back to December 2018 when Jan Scherrer (SUI) won in Secret Garden (CHN). Since then, the 28 World Cup events have been won by either a Japanese athlete (19 times) or an Australian athlete (nine times).

• Patrick Burgener (BRA) has represented Brazil since the start of this season and recorded a fourth place in Secret Garden (CHN). It marked the first time a rider representing Brazil finished inside the top 10 of a Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup.

• Alessandro Barbieri (USA) finished third in the Halfpipe World Cup season finale in 2024/25 in Calgary (CAN). That third place is the only podium finish by an American man in this discipline in almost three years. Barbieri made his Halfpipe World Cup debut with 35th place in Copper (USA) in 2023/24 and finished 13th in Copper last season.

Copper Halfpipe World Cup – Women

• Gaon Choi (KOR) won the 2025/26 Halfpipe World Cup season opener in Secret Garden (CHN) ahead of Rise Kudo (JPN) and Cai Xuetong (CHN). The last woman to start a Halfpipe World Cup season with two wins was Chloe Kim (USA) in 2020/21.

• Gaon Choi (KOR) had won one Halfpipe World Cup event prior to this season, at her World Cup debut in Copper in 2023/24.

• Gaon Choi (KOR) has reached the podium in four of her five career World Cup starts, with a sixth place in Laax (SUI) in 2023/24 as the exception. She is the only rider from the Republic of Korea with a Halfpipe World Cup victory to her name.

• Last season’s Crystal Globe winner Maddie Mastro (USA) and standings runner-up Chloe Kim (USA) will make their season debuts in Copper. The only Halfpipe event last season that did not feature either Mastro or Kim was in Copper, when Sara Shimizu (JPN) won, ahead of Cai Xuetong (CHN) and Mitsuki Ono (JPN).

• Chloe Kim (USA) has recorded the most Halfpipe World Cup wins in Copper, triumphing three times in a row in 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19. Her only other start in Copper in 2024/25 resulted in a fourth place.

• Rise Kudo (JPN) claimed her first career World Cup podium with second place in Secret Garden (CHN).

• Cai Xuetong (CHN) is one victory away from equaling Tricia Byrnes (USA) on the all-time record of Halfpipe World Cup wins on 15.

• None of the last 13 women’s Halfpipe World Cup events featured a European rider on the podium, since Berenice Wicki (SUI) finished third in Calgary (CAN) in February 2023.

• Queralt Castellet Ibanez (ESP) is the last European snowboarder to claim a World Cup win in this discipline when she triumphed in Copper (USA) in December 2022. She has not recorded a podium finish at a World Cup since that win.

• Isabelle Loetscher (SUI) finished fifth in Secret Garden (CHN). The last snowboarder representing Switzerland to win a women’s World Cup Halfpipe event was Manuela Laura Pesko (SUI) in Valmalenco (ITA) in 2007/08.