Aspen 2021: Freeski Halfpipe Preview

After months of uncertainty and waiting, followed by relief, excitement and anticipation at the 11th-hour news that a host was finally locked in and confirmed, the most progressive snowsports athletes on earth will finally get their time to shine when the Aspen 2021 FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Championships take to the slopes of the famed Colorado resort this week.

Freeski World Championships competition in Aspen will be going down from the 10th to 16th of March, 2021, with halfpipe qualifications kicking things off on the 10th at 9:55am and finals on the 12th of March, beginning at 13:00. The top eight women and 10 men will make it through to Friday’s finals.

A world-renowned resort with an extensive top-tier competition pedigree, Aspen Snowmass along with the US Ski & Snowboard Team were able to step up just when it seemed that the biennial FIS World Championships for slopestyle, halfpipe and big air may be completely cancelled this season, after initial plans for the event in China were shelved back in December due to COVID-19 restrictions in the nation.

Aspen Snowmass is no stranger to world-class competition. Buttermilk hosts the Aspen Snowmass Open (now a stop on U.S. Ski & Snowboard Rev Tour), and has also been home to X Games Aspen for two decades. Snowmass, meanwhile, served as an Olympic tryout venue at the 2018 U.S. Grand Prix, and Aspen Mountain even played host to the 1950 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

The halfpipe in Aspen has seen more top-level competition than just about any on earth at this point, and once again this week it’s in prime condition for the best freeskiers around the world who are looking forward to battling for medals and locking in valuable points on their way to qualifying for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Due to some fairly obvious reasons there hasn't been a whole lot in the way of competitions this season, making it a little bit difficult to start making predictions based on who’s coming in hot. However, we’ll do our best to point out a few names and storylines to watch out for in the coming days here below.

WHO TO WATCH - WOMEN

Utah 2019 podium - Gold - Kelly Sildaru (EST), Silver - Cassie Sharpe (CAN), Bronze - Brita Sigourney (USA)

With both the Utah 2019 World Championships gold and silver medallists out of this week’s Aspen 2021 world champs due to injury, and with no other women’s champions from years past slated to drop in on competition, we’re ensured of seeing a brand-new World Champion by the end of the day on Friday.

Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru will not be competing this week after injuring her knee in training for the X games big air at the end of January, while Cassie Sharpe of Canada suffered an injury mid-competition at X Games - though she still did enough before she went down to earn silver there.

Most definitely on hand for the Aspen 2021 world champs and ready to rumble, however, is China’s Eileen Gu. Fresh off of victory at the X Games in the very same pipe we’re about to see competition go down on this week, while also taking podium finishes in both slopestyle and big air there at X, Gu has quickly become the world’s most well-rounded freeskier in just over two years of international competition. Still just 17 years-old, Gu separates herself from the pack in nearly every facet of pipe riding - spinning all four ways, incorporating unique grabs, flowing her tricks together seamlessly, and doing it all with serious amplitude and style.

While Sharpe’s unavailability is a big loss to the Canadian squad, they’ve still got an ace in the hole and a serious shot at gold in Rachel Karker, a six-time World Cup podium winner and now a medallist in three straight X Games after taking bronze behind Gu and Sharpe at the most recent iteration. Karker is one of the most entertaining skiers to watch in the pipe, and should be a lock for finals at the very least.

Also highly likely to be in the mix for finals on the 12th is Valeriya Demidova, who’s representing the Russian Ski Federation. Demidova last season became the first athlete from Russia ever to win a crystal globe in any of the three freeski events, and she did it by putting down stylish and consistent runs with a variety of unexpected tricks that she can plug into different parts of her run at will. With podiums in four out of five World Cups last season, Demidova proved herself one of the absolute best doing it right now, and will look to reiterate that point in her first event of 2020/21.

And then there’s Brita Sigourney, leader of the US team and bronze medallist from both the Utah 2019 World Championships and the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Now 12 years into her international career, Sigourney remains one of the smoothest pipe skiers in the world and a podium threat at every event.

WHO TO WATCH - MEN

Utah 2019 podium - Gold - Aaron Blunck (USA), Silver - Kevin Rolland (FRA), Bronze - Noah Bowman (CAN)

While both the gold and silver medallists from Utah 2019 on the women’s side are out due to injury, both the gold and silver medallists on the men’s sides are here and ready to do battle in Aspen. However, both very lucky to have this opportunity, as each of Aaron Blunck and Kevin Rolland suffered potentially life-threatening injuries in the two years between the 2019 world champs and now.

Blunck’s crash came during early season training this winter when he mistimed his rotation on a switch double cork 1440 and took the full brunt of the pipe lip on his rib cage, cracking several ribs, fracturing his pelvis, lacerating his kidney and bruising his heart. When we interviewed him just after the crash back in December he was thinking more about how lucky he was to be alive than he was about making it back to competition in time for World Championships. However, he is back and at, incredibly, at 100% health, and after his silver medal performance in January at X Games he’ll be looking to become the first halfpipe skier ever to pull of the three-peat for world champs gold.

Rolland, meanwhile, had his catastrophic injury almost two years ago, just after the end of the 2018/19 competition season, when he was trying to break the world record for highest quarterpipe air. Suffering a number of injuries, including a broken pelvis and internal traumas, Rolland’s road back to the world of the halfpipe elite was even less clear than Blunck’s, but after two full years without competition the Inwashiro 2009 World Champion is back and looking for more.

Canada’s Noah Bowman grabbed bronze at Utah 2019, and finished just back of Blunck in last year’s unbelievably tight halfpipe crystal globe battle. The Aspen 2021 competition will mark Bowman’s fifth world champs start, and the switchstance style-master proved last season that he’s still got plenty of good riding left in the tank with podiums in four out of five World Cup competitions.

Perhaps the hottest name to watch out for on the men’s side of things, however, is Nico Porteous, who’s fresh off a gold medal win at X Games. The first man from New Zealand ever to win a Olympic Winter Games medal when he scored bronze at PyeongChang, Porteous absolutely blew the doors off at X Games a few weeks ago when he threw back-to-back 1620s - one right, one left - in a never-been-done combo that set a new standard for pipe riding. If Porteous can revisit that magic this week in Aspen he could be impossible to beat.

There’s a bunch of phenomenally talented skiers on hand who’ll be looking to make it tough on frontrunner Porteous however, including a stacked US team that also features two-time reigning Olympic gold medallist David Wise, X Games 2021 bronze medallist Birk Irving, and PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist Birk Irving.

Others to keep an eye on include Canada’s Brendan McKay and Simon D’Artois, Birk Ruud of Norway, and the legend Gus Kenworthy, who’s representing Great Britain.

WHERE TO WATCH (UPDATED):

FIS YouTube livestream (with geo restrictions)

Eurosport 1 Asia, Eurosport 1, Belarus 5, BNT, CBC Sports Streaming, CCTV, CT Sport, Viaplay, YLE Areena, SILKNET, Arena4+, RAI Sport Web 1, Ziggo Docu, Viasat 4, Matche Arena, JOJ TV, SBS, TV 10, SRF Zwei, TRT Spor2, BBC Red Button/BBC iPlayer/BBC Sport

13:00 MST (21:00 CET) - FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Championships - Freeski Halfpipe - LIVE, Aspen, Colo., Broadcast Olympic Channel, Streaming Peacock

QUICK LINKS:

• Aspen 2021 virtual media centre (photos, interviews, news, results, TV info, schedule)

• Opening press conference recording ft. Aaron Blunck

• FIS Aspen 2021 data page (programme, start lists, live scoring, results and more)

• Photos (rights free)

• FIS Freestyle YouTube page (video highlights, podium interviews)

• TV Broadcast Info (coming soon)

• Livestream (link coming soon)