Sunday saw the first Olympic halfpipe qualifier for the US team go down in the Buttermilk Pipe, as part of the Land Rover Grand Prix weekend. The weather was less than optimal at the beginning of the event. Falling snow made visibility questionable, speed hard to find, and increased the risk of random edge catches on the razor-sharp skis the athletes are running for pipe. However, the sun came out for the second two runs which clearly improved things. Eileen Gu opted not to start due to a tweaked shoulder, and in the circumstances, we can see why. She's not going to struggle to hit Olympic criteria.
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Highlights - Women's:
Rachel Karker - Boosted nine at the top of the pipe, clean throughout with solid amplitude. Definitely the run of the day.
Zoe Atkin - Strong technical run. Doesn't go as big as some of the other ladies, but nice switch hits both ways and a beautiful left 5 true nose up top.
Brita Sigourney - Went big at the top of the pipe with the dope 9 to straight air combo that is her trademark but things got a bit loose further down which definitely hurt her score.
Valeria Demidova - Got the first of the sunshine for her second run and duly put it down including a unique flair truckdriver. She seemed surprised to end up fifth and it did look better than it was scored.
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1st place - Rachel Karker
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2nd place - Zoe Atkin
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3rd place - Brita Sigourney
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Highlights - Men's:
Aaron Blunck - Final run. Five dubs. It wasn't beautiful, but having barely been able to walk after a first run crash and almost died pre-season... what a boss. He may have missed a grab which is contentious, but it was a psycho run and an amazing comeback.
Brendan McKay - Super nice switch AO dub 12, great grabs. Leader after the first run. Went HUGE on his third run but it wasn't enough for the win.
Nico Porteous - Managed a 16 on his first run despite the conditions, and cleaned it up somewhat for the second run with 4 dubs all stomped. Managed both dub 16s on the final hit but the landings weren't perfect.
David Wise - Played the game at first with a definite safety run, but spinning all ways, b2b dub 12s, and super clean throughout. Stepped it up for the second run with better amplitude but not quite enough to overtake Brendan. Third run he was super close to a probable podium, falling on a right dub 14 final hit.
Miguel Porteous - First to put down a clean run. Huge first hit switch alley-oop into the switch dub 12 was real nice.
Noah Bowman - Still making pipe skiing look good. Dope slash drop-in, flawless switch dub and bone roll. It's not new but it's a highlight every time.
Lyman Currier - Hanging it out with style too. Not the most technical run out there but great to watch, especially the alleyoop 5 tweaked mute.
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1st place - Aaron Blunck
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2nd place - Brendan McKay
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3rd place - Nico Porteous
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Newschoolers MVP Award - Noah Bowman (Forever)
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