Freeski halfpipe season set to close out at Calgary
Feb 12, 2020·Freeski Park & Pipe
We’re back with another big week of action on the 2019/20 FIS Freeski World Cup tour this week in Calgary, where the 2019/20 halfpipe World Cup season is set to close out with the winter's final competition at Canada Olympic Park,
Last week was a little break in World Cup action as a good chunk of the freeski world dropped by Copper Mountain for a snowy set of competitions at the Dew Tour, and with so many good riders already gathered in North America, the field who made the shift north to Calgary is looking very strong indeed.
Halfpipe qualifications are slated to take to the Calgary Snow Rodeo pipe on Wednesday beginning at 10:00 local time, while finals are set to go down under the lights on the evening of February 14, beginning at 18:00.
Ever more impressive Demidova leads women’s field
Russia’s Valeriya Demidova rolls onto the Calgary rocking the yellow bib as the halfpipe World Cup leader, and with podiums in three of four World Cup competitions this season - including a second place at the most recent World Cup in Mammoth Mountain (USA) two weekends ago - the 19-year-old is establishing herself this season one of the most complete pipe skiers in the game, with an excellent shot at winning this season's halfpipe crystal globe.
There was a bit of bad news for the Canadian team ahead of competition in Calgary, as reigning Olympic gold medallist, two-time reigning World Cup crystal globe winner, and last season’s Calgary World Cup winner Cassie Sharpe was forced to pull out of this weekend’s competition following an injury suffered at Dew Tour. However, the host squad still has an ace in the hole with Rachael Karker who, with three podiums in three competitions entered thus far, currently sits third on this season’s standings behind Demidova and Zhang Kexin (CHN). Karker and Zhang took second and third in Calgary last season, respectively.
Zhang’s Chinese teammate Li Fangui is skiing strongly, earning a podium just before the holiday break in Secret Garden (CHN) and is sitting fourth overall, while the likes of Brita Sigourney (USA), Yujin Jang (KOR), and Zoe Atkin (GBR) should likely all factor into finals action as well.
Finally, keep your eyes on Eileen Gu (CHN), as she returns to World Cup action for the first time since a runner-up finish at the season-opener in Cardrona. At her most recent competition action at the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games in Leysin (SUI), Gu won three medals - including halfpipe gold - and the 16-year-old could very well be the best all-around women’s freeskier in the world, already.
Blunck and Bowman’s seesaw battle set to continue
First up to speak of on the men’s side of things is the USA’s Aaron Blunck, who so far has podiums in four World Cup competitions this season - including a winning performance in Mammoth Mountain two weekends ago that many are pointing to as the perhaps the best pipe run ever put down in competition. Despite missing the podium at Dew Tour last week, Blunck is running hot, and will be tough to match by anyone in the heavy Calgary field.
In what has been a thoroughly entertaining back-forth-battle all season, Blunck has shared the podium at all four World Cup competitions thus far with Canada’s own Noah Bowman, with Blunck now leading Bowman by just 20 points with 340 to Bowman’s 320 - though Bowman is fresh off a win at Dew Tour. The differing styles and approaches to halfpipe skiing that each rider brings to the table every competition has made the 2019/20 halfpipe World Cup season an especially entertaining one thus far, and with only one competition left to go it's going to be must-watch veiwing on Friday to see who walks away with this season's biggest trophy.
Keeping their respective podium streaks alive isn’t a given for either Blunck or Bowman this week, however, with a multitude of heavies on hand and hungry for their slice of the top three pie in Calgary.
Behind Bowman, the US squad owns the next three spots in the 2019/20 halfpipe rankings’ top five, with Birk Irving, Lyman Currier, and Taylor Seaton holding spots three to five. Currier comes into Calgary with back-to-back third-place finishes, including two weekends ago in Mammoth when he was just able to edge Irving. Irving has now finished fourth in four consecutive competitions when you factor in last week’s Dew Tour, and the 20-year-old may be hungrier than any other athletes to make some noise this week in Calgary.
Another one to watch out for on the US team is David Wise, as the two-time reigning Olympic champion - and the current benchmark holder for the most men’s freeski halfpipe podiums in World Cup history - looks to get back into the top three after a tough year recovering from injury.
And finally there’s the dark-horse on the entry list, as Gus Kenworthy makes his return to World Cup this weekend after two years away dealing with injuries and setbacks. Recently switching allegiances from the USA to Great Britain, Kenworthy wowed in his second competition under the new flag with a second-place finish at the Dew Tour last week, landing a switch double 1260 that had never been done before. The 28-year-old looks to be returning to his old form after the toughest stretch of his career, and could be a difference-maker this weekend.
WATCH LIVE:
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QUICK LINKS:
Calgary data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
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