Gu and Mackay go back-to-back at Calgary Snow Rodeo
Jan 02, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
A huge week of action in Calgary wrapped up late on New Year’s Day 2022, where Eileen Gu (CHN) and Brendan Mackay (CAN) both made it two-for-two on Canadian soil by taking their second halfpipe World Cup wins in three days at the Snow Rodeo presented by Toyota.
While one of the main storylines leading up to Saturday’s freeski halfpipe World Cup was the bitter cold that had been hanging over much of western Canada for the past week, on Saturday the weather pattern shifted, the temperatures rose, and the persistent chinook winds that Calgary is known for rolled in.
However, while the blustery winds kicked up a notch during run two of the competition, both the men and women were able to get all three of their finals runs in, and we some remarkable skiing go down despite the conditions.
Gu perfect in halfpipe World Cup thus far
Eileen Gu rolled into Calgary late Wednesday evening and proceeded to win the first of the two Calgary competitions the very next day and, with Calgary also being the site of her very first halfpipe World Cup win two years ago, you knew she would be hard to beat on Saturday.
After a disappointing first run, Gu was able to take it up a notch in her second run, despite the winds being at their strongest. Starting out with her signature right 540 Buick to left 540 double Japan combo, Gu then put down a right 720 tail, a switch left 360 Japan, a left alley-oop flat 540 Japan, and then a right alley-oop flat 540 safety for a score of 92.80 and her third win in three World Cup halfpipe competitions so far this season.
“I’m super, super happy,” Gu said after her third career Calgary win, “I’ve been saying that the biggest thing for me is getting competition experience, especially with people like Rachael (Karker) or Cassie (Sharpe) in this field, who I look up to so much. So to just be in this field and do my best is what I always strive for.”
Second place went to one of the skiers Gu spoke of, as Rachael Karker was able to improve on her third-place finish in Thursday’s competition and extend her impressive World Cup podium streak to eight straight events.
Third place for the women on Saturday went to Hanna Faulhaber, as the 17-year-old US skier earned the second World Cup top-3 of her career, following up her runner-up finish from two nights earlier at the Snow Rodeo. Throw in a Dew Tour top-3 and the young American is on a streak of three straight in top-level international competition.
With the final halfpipe competition on the 2021/22 World Cup season coming up next week in Mammoth, Gu has now all but locked up what should be the first crystal globe of her young career, as her 300 points put her 80 ahead of Karker’s 220 and almost entirely out of reach.
As well, with 400 total points this season, Gu sits well out in front of the women’s Freeski overall standings.
Mackay doubles down on home soil
On the men’s side of things, Brendan Mackay simply dropped in on the halfpipe that he’s ridden tens of thousands of times in his life and stepped up from his performance on Thursday - except, this time, he did it with gale-force winds slicing across the pipe.
Starting things off with an insane switch left double flat spin 900 critical, Mackay then threw down a switch left 720 safety, a right 900 blunt, and then his ender combo of a a left double 1260 safety into a right double 1260 safety for earn the 24-year-old a score of 93.40 and his second victory in three days.
“It feels awesome,” Mackay said once the results were in, “It’s hard to describe, but I’m just so stoked to have put it down tonight. It felt great.
“I’ve skied this pipe for 15 years and it’s pretty often windy, so I’m pretty used to it. I lot of the time I don’t even feel it in the air, it’s more of just a mental battle, so I just turned up my music and tried to ignore it, and it worked out.”
Second place behind Mackay once again was the USA’s Alex Ferreira, and when you factor in the Dew Tour from a couple of weeks ago, the pair of Mackay and Ferreira have now been the top two competitors for four straight events.
Third place went to Noah Bowman for a bit of redemption after he finish in fourth on Thursday, giving the host Canadians their second three-podium night of the Snow Rodeo week.
From Calgary, the FIS Freeski World Cup is heading down to Mammoth Mountain (USA) for slopestyle and halfpipe competition throughout the week.
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