The final World Cup Halfpipe of the season is here! Hosted at a windy Mammoth Califonia.
A beautiful memorial ski through the halfpipe and a minute of silence was observed in memory of Kyle Smaine, a beloved member of the ski community and a halfpipe skier by trade. The wind caused issues all event, with turbulent gust making left wall of the pipe a challenge for everyone. The weather held off proceedings for an hour and plagued riders throughout the final.
The men's field was missing two big names, Alex Ferreira and Noah Bowman, due to injuries. But in the end, it was a battle for the podium spots amongst a few favourites in both the men's and women's. This showing demonstrated to us that halfpipe skiing is alive and well, with 16-year-old Finlay Melville Ives competing alongside 32-year-old veteran David Wise. Let's get to the highlights!
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Highlights
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Women
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Run 1
Svea Irving opened the competition with a clean run, she locked in the mute on the alleyoop 3 but missed a few grabs in an otherwise clean run and was awarded 75.50. Dillan Glennie skied a nice run although she lost a bit of amplitude through the back end, the left flair to the right 7 was a nice combo with plenty of boost above the deck and she earned 81.75 for her efforts. Amy Fraser put down a dope run, with a right switch 9 and 7, back-to-back flairs and a left 9 on the final hit this dope run earned 87.25. The wind picked up before Hannah Faulhaber's run, with big gusts going across the pipe. She dropped-in in a weather window opening with her signature, stylish blunt air straight into a left 9. Known for amplitude she also lost a little through the pipe, this knocked a few points off her score of 84.75 and preliminary second. Zoe Atkin, fresh of an X-Games win dropped next and had to wait for the wind to play ball - a theme for the afternoon.
Zoe put down a clean run and although missed a few grabs, her left 5 mute is still one of the bigger hits we see in the pipe and her switch 7 is unique and a high scorer too. The full run is awarded 90.25. Kexin Zhang put down a near-perfect run, staying really smooth and getting good amplitude, her left 7 to switch 5 were textbook, she grabbed her grabs better than Zoe and so scored 92.75. Rachel Karker dropped and the wind picked up a storm during her run, swirling above the deck but it didn't phase the 1st qualifier, back-to-back 9s were a hallmark on this run and the judges took their time she scored 88.75, enough for third but was hampered by the winds.
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Run 2
Svea looked to be cleaning up her run but got blown too far into the transition on one of her later hits scrapping this run. Daeun Kim got through a clean run after falling on the first run, lacking some difficulty and amplitude and so scored a 60.00. Glennie put down a clean run but didn't improve on her first run score, losing some amplitude and missing some grabs, the undoing of her score. Amy Fraser had some shuffles so her first run score held. Faulhaber and Atkin were undone by the wild weather on the left wall of the pipe. Kexin threw the kitchen sink at her second run, cleaning things up and adding a left cork 10 in the middle, scoring 93.50 and giving her more breathing room at the top. Rachel Karker scored 91.75 to take second but didn't ski as cleanly as she is known for. This run looked set to challenge first and would come down to her final throw of the dice.
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Run 3
In run 3, Svea wouldn't improve on her opening score, Daeun Kim and Dillan Glennie would also hip-check on their final runs and not improve their scores. Amy Fraser had similar troubles on her opening 9 to run 2 which stole some amplitude from her and she almost ran out of ditch. Her opening 87.25 would remain her best run of the day. Hannah would tidy things up, going a little bigger but only adding a point to her score. Zoe dropped with purpose, and locked in her tail grabs better than the early runs and getting boost through the pipe. These improvements were worth 92.75 to put her in second behind Kexin who dropped next. She wouldn't improve her score and would watch Rachel drop last to try and take the W. Rachel's run didn't look clean enough to beat Zoe or Kexin. Back-to-back cork 9 Japans, sandwiched by mirrored flairs are a technical combo but a loss of amplitude towards the end of the run kept her score a little lower than she would have liked. She would finish in third, behind Zoe in second and Kexin in 1st.
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Results
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Men
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Run 1
Andrew Longino opened things with a modest run scoring 71.25, looking stoked to be in finals - alleyoop flat 3, to switch 5 to switch down the pipe 7 was a really stylish combo. The bar was set. Dylan Marineau put down a fire run, opening with a left dub 9 to right 1080 stale, followed by a switch 5 to right 9 blunt that he boosted, holding on to a super deep landing, 76.25. Tristan Feinberg lit things up with a dope and big run; switch 7 to back-to-back dub 12s. His right 9 stale to dub flat 9 was dope and his final hit alleyoop flat 5 blunt was massive. This was a really sick run to watch, deservedly earning 85. Matthew Labaugh sent a left dub 12 Japan but landed too high on the transition, throwing out this one.
Birk Irving changed things up from what we often see, opening with back-to-back 9s, his final two hits were his DTP dub flat 7 but taken to 9 with a huge alleyoop flat 7 as the final trick, a super unique earning 88.75. Simon D'Artois had a little slip mid-run on his right dub 12 safety, so his final doubles stayed as singles for this throwaway. Finlay Melville Ives went down on his second of his opening dub 12s. Aaron Blunck put down a very modest run by his standards but put a 72.75 on the board.
Brendan Mackay put together a difficult run, holding little back. Opening with a switch left 5 to switch right 7 combo and closing with a right-to-left dub 12 combo. His amplitude was impressive and 83 would put him in third with 32-year-old Wise to drop as the final competitor. A classic run from David, switch right 7 blunt to switch left 5 japan, right 9 blunt to left-to-right dub 12 combo, safety and mute respectively, of this own, his pedigree showed for 91.25 and a top spot earned.
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Run 2
Longino didn't improve. Marineau laced his run, opening with a huge, fast dub flat 9 backed up with a right 10. Right dub 12 mute, and left dub 12 tindy were stomped big and he closed his run with a classy 9 blunt. Improving on his first run score by 3 points. Tristan Feinburg went huge on a dub 14 attempt but couldn't hold on to it. Labaugh couldn't hold onto his huge alleyoop dub flat 7 either, not quite getting the pop out of the wall. Birk Irving laced back-to-back doubles, 12 to 14, in his second run but couldn't improve his first score. Finlay Melville Ives needed to clean his run up but threw an alleyoop dub 10 on a really sick axis with a locked-in mute. He would score in the 50s and want to really put it down in the final run. Brendan Mackay managed to put his run down cleanly, opening with a switch left 5 tp switch right 9 blunt backed up by one of the sicker doubles in the comp, a switch left dub 10. He closed out the run with a right-to-left dub 12 combo that was massive. 90.25 bumped Brendad into 2nd. Current leader David Wise went down early in this run.
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Run 3
Tristan Feinburg went balls to the wall on a dub 14 in the swirling winds on the left wall but hip checked. Martin and Dylan didn't improve with their last efforts either. Matthew Labaugh got his dub 12 Japan to dub 9 combo but bailed out of his last dub due to speed/wind issues. Birk Irving, who seems to have several banger pipe runs in his bag, opting this time for switch left 9 blunt to back-to-back dubs right 12 left 14. Followed up with a switch right down the pipe 7 and his dub flat DTP 7. The judges loved it and he took first with 94.00.
Simon D'Artois kicked things off in typical style but went a touch to large on the left dub 12 and killed his speed. Finlay clipped the coping in his last run, stunting his possible score. The youngster has a bright future in the ditch though, looking very promising amongst veterans of the sport. Aaron Blunck seemed to be carrying issues through the pipe, opting to throw no doubles and cruising with style. Brendan Mackay showed his class, lacing a switch dub 9 to switch alleyoop dub 10 combo, a massive and capped left 9 blunt and closing things out with the right-to-left dub 12 combo. This was enough for 93.00. Meaning Birk and Brendan had bumped David Wise into 3rd. He would drop and lose some speed early on in the run and end up in 3rd behind Brendan and Birk. Birk would take his first career Crystal Globe.
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Results
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