Halfpipe World Cup season set to kick off at Copper Mountain
Dec 05, 2018·Freeski Park & Pipe
The 2018/2019 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup is set to kick off with the first competition of the North American winter taking place this week in Copper Mountain, USA, where the full line-up of the host US squad will face the best of the rest of the world on December 5-7 at the 2018 Toyota U.S. Grand Prix.
Copper Mountain’s partnership with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association goes back a decade, and the Grand Prix at Copper has served as the northern hemisphere’s season opener for the FIS Freeski and Snowboard World Cup competitions for nearly that long, with the first World Cup competitions at Copper dating back to the 2012/13 season.
With perfect snow conditions at Copper, the stacked-field of US and international athletes on hand in Colorado will have every opportunity to show their best on the perfectly shaped 22-foot high, 68-foot wide superpipe, setting the stage for an exciting week of FIS Freeski World Cup competition.
The US halfpipe team is looking extremely strong this week, with the likes of the respective Olympic gold and silver medallists David Wise and Alex Ferreira on the men’s side, and the Olympic bronze medallist Brita Sigourney over on the ladies’ side leading a huge home squad of athletes who are fighting for a spot on the US national team for the upcoming Utah 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships.
Other top US ladies like Devin Logan, Maddie Bowman and Annalisa Drew, as well as men Aaron Blunck, Taylor Seaton, and Birk Irving will also represent the stars and stripes at Copper, as well as a whole gang of young up-and-comers looking to make their mark on the World Cup this season.
In the ladies’ competition also keep an eye on Olympic gold medallist and last year’s World Cup crystal globe winner Cassie Sharpe (CAN), while Kelly Sildaru (EST) and Zhang Kexing (CHN) will be representing the young generation of halfpipe riders, with both capable of surprising the favourites. Add to the mix the likes of Yurie Watabe (JPN) and Rowan Cheshire (GBR) and the ladies’ event is shaping up to be a thrilling one.
On the men’s side of things watch out for Freestyle Canada’s own Noah Bowman, Simon d’Artois and Brendan Mackay, PyeongChang 2018 Olympic bronze medallist Nico Porteous and his fellow New Zealand teammate Beau-James Wells, Kevin Rolland from France and Robin Briguet from Switzerland, all looking to start the season on a high note in what appears to be a highly contested event.
The qualifications at Copper are slated to go down on Wednesday with ladies dropping in at 9:35 LOC and the men following up at 11:50 LOC. The finals will go down on Friday, December 7, at 11:00 CET.
TV SCHEDULE
Austria - live on ORF Sport+, livestreaming on tvthek.orf.at
Canada - same-day delayed on CBC Sports at 7:00pm ET, next-day delayed on CBC Television at 12:00pm ET
China - CCTV - time to be confirmed
Europe - Live on Eurosport 2
Asia/Pacific - Live on Eurosport 1
France - next-day delayed on L'Equipe at 10:20 CET
Italy - delayed on 10.12 on Rai Sport at 14:40 CET
Poland - live on Polsat Sport Extra
Slovenia - news highlights on SLO1
USA - live on NBC Sports & NBC Sports Gold
QUICK LINKS
Copper Mountain FIS data page (event programme, start lists, live scoring, results)
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