The final World Cup of the season went down in Silvaplana, Switzerland this morning. A delayed start to proceedings due to weather set the tone for the opening runs, with conditions still less than idea. The two run final and seemingly faster drop times did make the comp a more engaging to watch though, something that should probably be considered in future. The three run final with 20+ skiers is a lot of skiing and waiting for the casual viewer. Occasional wind and fog holds even after the delay must have made things extra tricky for the riders, and the wind itself meant quite a few knuckles in run one.
It's a pity conditions weren't consistently great because the course was clearly a lot of fun on a sunny, warm day. The team at Corvatsch did a great job with clean rails and a variety of transition options throughout. The rail section in-particular looked pretty fun, especially with the QP between the top two features. The weather rolled in and out which definitely gave some riders an advantage on the day, but there was an impressive amount of crazy stuntery regardless of conditions. The US Olympic qualification battle is clearly going to be crazy with 5 US men making the finals today. It was also sick to see the Canadian team killing the QP hits... Canadians just make pipe tricks look good apparently.
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Highlights - Women:
Tess Ledeux - First - Skipped the dub 12 but still went switch 7, to switch bio 9 to cork 7 tail on the jumps and it was enough for first. She also took home two crystal globes as a result of the win.
Sarah Hoefflin - Second - Switch lip 2 on to the first rail, great amplitude on both runs, great grabs as always. Enough for first after run 1 but not enough to overtake Tess' second run.
Mathilde Gremaud - Third - Screwed by weather/course hold run one. Put it down run two, including a nice bio 9 safety. Just enough for third, narrowly bumping Katie off the podium.
Katie Summerhayes - Back at the sharp ends of comps, super clean trademark K-Feds. Cleaned up the jumps for her second run with a 9, to switch 5 japan to cork 7.
Rell harwood - 9 to switch bio 9 to 7 on the jumps. Switch 2 continuing 4 on the flat rail was sick. Skipped the QP air on her highest scoring run which probably kept her off the podium.
Kokone Kondo - Misty 5 nose mute, you don't see many of those in comps or otherwise.
Marin Hamill - Again. Not particularly tech (5 mute, switch 5 japan) but so so much style.
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Highlights - Men:
Colby Stevenson - First - Unnat switch 2 backlside back 2 to switch 270 disaster backslide back 4 (elbow rail) combo. Super clean jumps. Even cleaner on the second run, he's jus unstoppable right now.
Ferdi - Second - Super clean, super smooth. Both ways switch dub 12 mutes and a dub bio 12. Front cork 8 on the last rail...
Alex Hall - Third - Flawless on both runs. Dub 16 breby, switch 2 cont 4 to cont bounce 360 on the last rail. Perfect but not enough to bump Colby or Ferdi.
Oliwer Magnusson - Super technical run, very clean but not much creativity. B2b dub 14s and locked grabs.
Max Moffat - Clean 2p2, downpipe 9 in the QP (shout out COP), and dope switch dub 12 true nose. "Was that a 90!? Are they kidding?"
Woodsy - Switch 450 on to the first rail was dope. Triple 14 on the last jump with the whole last cork 3 almost on the ground was insane.
Kim Gubser - Switch triple to flat, back 8 to flat on the last rail.
Mac Forehand - Style. And lots of it. Dub 14 blunt to japan was super good on run 1 but couldn't put together a perfect run.
Evan McEachran - Stomped a rodeo out of the final rail having left one ski on the rail.
Kiernan Fagan - Crashed twice...
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Highlights or replay coming soon, technical issues with the stream mean we're waiting on those.
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