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acolbert@aspentimes.com
Aspen’s Alex Ferreira didn’t wait long to return to the top of the podium, winning the men’s halfpipe skiing final on Saturday at the Copper Mountain Grand Prix. It continues a dominant run by the 30-year-old dating back to last season, where he won every contest he entered.
The 94.75 score posted by Ferreira on his second run proved enough to hold off runner-up Brendan Mackay of Canada (91.25) and third-placed Nick Goepper of Indiana (89.25). The two-time Olympic medalist now has 10 career World Cup wins, becoming the first man to reach that milestone in World Cup halfpipe history.
His 18 career World Cup podiums are second to only Nevada’s David Wise, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who has 19 World Cup podiums but only seven wins. Wise finished fifth on Saturday at Copper, his 87 just short of the 87.75 posted by fourth-place finisher Finley Melville Ives of New Zealand.
“The champ is back, baby, the champ is back,” Ferreira said with a laugh to FIS media. “I’m so grateful. Everyone skied well, and it was an unbelievable heat and contest, so to be on top of the podium, I’m speechless. To come out on top after everyone is landing such perfect, solid runs, what can you say?”
According to the FIS news release, his winning run featured a switch right double 1080 Japan, left 1620 safety, right 1080 lead tail, switch left 1080 tail, and a right 1620 blunt. The final trick was “the first time the right 16 has been landed with a capped tail grab in competition.”
Other finalists on Saturday included Winter Park’s Birk Irving in sixth (85), Oregon’s Hunter Hess in seventh (84.25), New York’s (via Vail) Matthew Labaugh in eighth (81.75), New Zealand’s Luke Harrold in ninth (78.75), and Crested Butte’s Aaron Blunck in 10th (77.25).
The Roaring Fork Valley had numerous others compete during qualifying on Thursday, only to miss finals. This includes Tristan Feinberg (12th), Nick Geiser (13th), Cassidy Jarrell (15th), Kai Morris (19th), and Hunter Maytin (23rd).
So far this season, Ferreira has two runner-up World Cup finishes — Sept. 9 in New Zealand and Dec. 7 in China — and now leads the overall World Cup standings. The next World Cup for halfpipe skiing will be in Aspen, with qualifying scheduled for Jan. 31 and finals for Feb. 2.
The Aspen Grand Prix follows the return of Winter X Games to Buttermilk from Jan. 23-25. Ferreira is the reigning X Games champion.
“Today was huge,” he said to the Summit Daily News on Saturday. “I am so grateful to be on top of the podium when everyone is throwing such heater runs. It is really intense, and I am finally going to sleep tonight, that’s for sure. I have not taken a week off in a couple of weeks, so I am taking next week off, fully. Enjoy time with family, friends, get the holidays in, and then I will probably get bored and start training again.”
The women’s halfpipe skiing final on Saturday ended with China’s Eileen Gu again on top. Her 90.50 held off runner-up Zoe Atkin of Great Britain (89.75) and third-placed Cassie Sharpe of Canada (89). Winter Park’s Svea Irving was fourth (85.75).
Gu, only 21, now has 17 World Cup wins, the all-time FIS Freeski World Cup wins record. She broke a tie with France’s Tess Ledeux, a slopestyle/big air skier, who remains at 16 wins.
“It’s a competitive sport, and sometimes, things don’t go exactly as planned, but it’s all about competition and doing the best that you can on the day and competing with everyone,” Gu said to FIS media. “So I’m really happy to get my 17th win — 14th (halfpipe win) in a row.”
Basalt’s Hanna Faulhaber competed in qualifying, her first competition since Copper last year after hurting her knee ahead of X Games last January. She fell on her first run of qualifying at Copper and did not drop in for a second run, although she posted on social media that she was doing fine and will be back on snow soon.
acolbert@aspentimes.com
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