Martinod and Yater-Wallace claim wins at Olympic test event in Korea
Aug 31, 2018·Freeski Park & Pipe
Bokwang Phoenix Park, KOR - Marie Martinod (FRA) and Torin Yater-Wallace (USA) have claimed victories in the halfpipe World Cup event staged in Bokwang Phoenix Park, which also served as the official test event ahead of the next year's PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
In the ladies' competition French star Marie Martinod set the bar up high early with her first attempt, stomping her signature run with back-to-back 540s followed by back-to-back flairs and a big leftside 900 tindy to move her on top of the pack with 91.60 points. At the end of the day Martinod's first run score appeared to be also the highest one as she took her third consecutive World Cup win of the season.
"It's great to win here in Korea, one year before the Olympics," Martinod said after the competition, "It's very exciting but it definitely will put some pressure on me. I hope I can deal with that pressure, move back to training and come back well-prepared for the final test."
With yet another win and 300 points in the ranking, Martinod has also secured herself the halfpipe World Cup crystal globe as now she'll be looking to claim the prize in front of the home crowd at the season's last stop in Tignes.
Devin Logan (USA) finished the competition on the second place with Ayana Onozuka (JPN) rounding out the ladies' podium on third.
In men's event top qualifier from Thursday, Torin Yater-Wallace had it all under control and keeping his momentum after the win in Mammoth, the US rider put today yet another one on his account. Despite struggling with a heel injury Yater-Wallace managed to stomp his first run going both huge and stylish on each of his four hits including right dub 1260 mute, left 1080 tail, switch right 720 safety and left alley-oop dub flatspin 900 japan, summing up for a total score of 95.60 points.
"It's really cool to ski in Korea and see the venue before the Olympics," Yater-Wallace said following the award ceremony, "It feels awesome to be here and I feel very lucky to end up on the first place."
Aaron Blunck, also representing USA, finished just behind Yater-Wallace on second, while Benoit Valentin of France had to settle for a third place finish.
With the victory today, Torin Yater-Wallace also jumped on top of the overall halfpipe World Cup ranking as he now leads the pack with 218 points. Aaron Blunck and Ben Valentin sit second and third with 190 and 185 points respectively while the last year's World Cup winner Kevin Rolland is currently holding to fourth spot with 179 points.
From February 6 to 7, the fourth and final stop of the halfpipe World Cup season is scheduled to take place in Tignes (FRA).
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