Halfpipe World Cup travels to Secret Garden

This week the FIS Freeski World Cup will bring the action to China, where the 2018/19 halfpipe season continues from December 19-20 at the future venue for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Secret Garden Resort.

This weekend’s competition will be the second halfpipe World Cup of the 2018/19 season, after a hugely entertaining event went down two weeks ago on US soil at Copper Mountain, kicking things off on a high note for winter in the northern hemisphere.

The competition in Secret Garden was originally slated to take place from December 20-22. However, organizers and officials have been looking ahead at a weather forecast that’s predicting strong winds for the weekend and, with that in mind, the event program has been readjusted. The competition is now scheduled for Thursday with qualifications starting from 9:00, and the finals slated to go down on at 11:30.

With several of the top athletes sitting out the Chinese halfpipe World Cup after a busy December schedule in the USA, the Secret Garden competition will be a chance for some up-and-comers to step up their game in quest to land a spot on the podium.

In the ladies’ competition the top gunner without a doubt is the local hero Zhang Kexin, who took top spot in Secret Garden last season and will be looking to repeat her great performance in 2018.

Also to watch out for Canada’s Rachel Karker, who is coming straight off a surprising win in the Dew Tour last weekend. Karker has yet to land a spot on the World Cup podium, but looking at her current form it’s hard not to see her among favourites for the win in China.

Over on the men’s side look for the reigning Secret Garden champion Thomas Krief (FRA) to come gunning for another win in China. However, Krief will face some strong competition from the likes of the Porteous brother Nico and Miguel, along with Canada’s Simon d’Artois and Brendan Mackay, with the USA’s Hunter Hess also likely to be in the mix.

It’s really anyone’s contest to win this week in Secret Garden, and with the sun out and scheduled to shine for the coming days over the perfectly-cut superpipe, it should be a fun competition to watch come Thursday.

TV SCHEDULE

Austria - delayed on ORF Sport + on 22/12 at 9:30

China - Live on BTV

Europe - live on Eurosport Player

Asia/Pacific - same-day delayed on eurosport 1 at 8:00 CET

France - delayed on L'Equipe on 22/12 at 8:00

Italy - delayed on Rai Sport on 24/12 at 16:10

Poland - delayed on Polsat Sport Extra on 22/12 at 4:00

USA - delayed on NBC Olympic Channel and NBC Sports Gold on 22/12 at 4:00 am ET

QUICK LINKS

• Secret Garden FIS data page (event programme, start lists, live scoring, results)

• The FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup calendar

• Halfpipe World Cup photos