Outsiders challenge Halfpipe podium streak at Calgary World Cup
Dec 31, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
Japan’s record streak of Halfpipe World Cup podiums could come to an end in Calgary this weekend as Australia’s Valentino Guseli and Brazil’s Patrick Burgener eye up the men’s top spots.
Guseli is among a field of 36 men competing in the Calgary Halfpipe World Cup beginning on Friday 2 January 2026. Competition was originally scheduled to begin on Wednesday 31 December but qualifications have been moved to Friday due to warm temperatures which affected halfpipe preparations.
Guseli comes to Calgary off the back of his third-place result at Copper (USA) in December behind Japanese one-two finishers Ryusei Yamada and Yuto Totsuka. Neither Yamada or Totsuka are competing in Calgary, which could pave the way for Guseli and others to move up the leaderboard and end Japan’s 30-event streak of podium finishes.
Japanese riders have featured on the podium of every Halfpipe World Cup event during the past seven years. The last time a Japanese snowboarder missed the podium was on 8 December 2018 in Copper when Scotty James (AUS), Toby Miller (USA) and Chase Josey (USA) were first, second and third respectively.
Guseli’s Halfpipe record in Calgary includes winning the 2024 edition in Calgary and second place in 2023. The 20-year-old’s Copper result marked his first Halfpipe World Cup podium since his 2024 victory, although Guseli did end his 2023/24 season with third place in Slopestyle at Silvaplana (SUI).
With fellow Aussie and four-time World Champion Scotty James not competing in Calgary – same goes for reigning Olympic Halfpipe champion Ayumu Hirano and last season’s Crystal Globe winner Ruka Hirano – Guseli and other riders such as Burgener will be well placed to secure a top-three result in Calgary.
Burgener finished 13th in Copper after beginning his 2025/26 campaign with fourth place at the season opener in Secret Garden (CHN) earlier in December – the first time a rider representing Brazil finished inside the top 10 at a FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup. Burgener has represented Brazil since the start of this season after switching from the Swiss team in June 2025.
Other contenders in the men’s field are 2023 World Champion Chaeun Lee (KOR), who finished just outside the podium here in 2023 with fourth place, and compatriots Geonhui Kim and Jio Lee. The latter was 11th in Copper, while Kim and Chaeun Lee did not qualify for the 14-man final. Seventeen-year-old Jio Lee previously finished fourth in Calgary in 2024, his best World Cup career performance to date.
On the women’s side, Canada’s Elizabeth Hosking returns to Calgary after finishing third here last season behind Sena Tomita (JPN) and runner-up Maddie Mastro (USA). This year, neither Mastro, Tomita nor two-time Olympic Halfpipe champion Chloe Kim (USA) will be in Calgary – which means 24-year-old Hosking could become the first Canadian to top the women’s Halfpipe World Cup podium on home snow.
Another contender capable of giving Canada a top-three result is Brooke Dhondt, who finished sixth at Secret Garden. Dhondt previously finished fourth in Calgary in 2023, the same year that Hosking was runner-up and teammate Felicity Geremia was seventh. Eighteen-year-old Geremia recently finished 16th in Copper, and 13th in Secret Garden.
China’s Wu Shaotong comes to Calgary as the highest seeded women’s rider after finishing fourth on home snow in Secret Garden, followed by eighth in Copper. The 27-year-old claimed her first and only World Cup podium in 2023 with second place at the prestigious Laax Open. Last season Wu qualified for three finals out of her four World Cup starts.
With a smaller women’s field of 22 in Calgary, European riders such as Isabelle Loetscher (SUI) could also have a chance to secure a podium place previously occupied by halfpipe powerhouses Japan and USA. None of the previous 14 women’s Halfpipe World Cup events featured a European rider on the podium, and Loetscher previously finished fifth in Calgary last season and in 2023. The 21-year-old began the 2025/26 season with fifth place in Secret Garden, followed by 13th in Copper.
Women’s qualifications will begin on Friday 2 January 2026 at 11:15 Mountain Standard Time (MST), followed by men’s qualifications at 14:00.
The top 10 women and top 14 men from qualifications will progress to the finals on Saturday 3 January beginning at 18:00 MST.
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