Gu makes history, Porteous wins men's event, and Mackay earns globe in surprise finish
Jan 12, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
After a myriad of weather-related challenges and setbacks, the first competition of a massive weekend of action in Mammoth Mountain (USA) went down on Saturday morning, where China’s Eileen Gu and Nico Porteous of New Zealand closed out the 2021/22 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup season in style with victories at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix. Gu and Canada’s Brendan Mackay would finish the top pipe skiers of the season and the crystal globe winners.
GU PUTS EXCLAMATION MARK ON CRYSTAL GLOBE-WINNING SEASON
Gu’s win in Mammoth capped a remarkable World Cup halfpipe season for the 18-year-old, who became the first skier in FIS Freeski World Cup history to win four consecutive World Cup competitions. Which is to say that no other skier, man or woman, in big air, slopestyle or halfpipe competition, had ever accomplished the feat until Gu did it on Saturday at Mammoth.
Gu not only made it a perfect four-for-four on the season while capturing the first crystal globe of her career, she did it with aplomb, dropping last for a victory lap that may in fact have been the best women’s freeski halfpipe run ever.
Starting things off with massive, back-to-back right and the left side 900s, Gu kept her incredible amplitude and control up throughout the rest of run, following up the left 9 with a right 720 blunt, into a switch down-the-pipe 720 safety, and finally an alley-oop flatspin 540 mute to cap things off, earning herself the highest halfpipe score of her career - a 97.50.
“I’m absolutely blown away,” Gu said just after her score had come in, “97.50…that’s the highest score I’ve ever gotten. I’m so happy to put a run down today, I think that’s probably one of the best runs I’ve ever done in the halfpipe. And to finish the World Cup season with another win and get my first crystal globe, it’s just incredible.”
Second place for the women with a score of 92.50 was Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru, as the 19-year-old was her typical smooth and stylish self, matching Gu with back-to-back 900s off the top, spinning all four ways, and squeezing the most hits into her run of anyone on the day.however, as she was not quite able to match the amplitude and variety of axis that Gu included in her run, she’d have to settle for runner-up.
Rounding out the women’s podium in third place with a score of 87.75 was the USA’s own Brita Sigourney, as the 31-year-old punched her ticket to her third Olympic Winter Games in Beijing with her classic style, including an alley-oop on her second hit that challenged most of the men even for the biggest air of the day.
PORTEOUS WINS THE DAY, WHILE FERREIRA’S MISTAKE HANDS MACKAY THE GLOBE
Before we get to the men’s competition, perhaps the most incredible thing that happened in the Mammoth competition took place two days ago in qualifications, when the USA’s Alex Ferreira somehow fell on his first hit in both of his qualification runs to finish in 34th place - dead last.
Coming into Mammoth, Ferreira was tied atop the men’s World Cup leaderboard with Canada’s Brendan Mackay, who elected not to travel south to Mammoth and instead rest up for Beijing 2022.
With that decision, Mackay essentially handed the globe to Ferreira, who needed only to come 30th or higher and score a single point at Mammoth to win what would have been his second career globe. Ferreira, with three straight podiums up to that point in the 2021/22 season, seemed like an absolute lock for the trophy.
But, somehow, he wasn’t. And, with those two two top skiers still tied, the decision went to the first tiebreaker - most wins World Cup wins on the season - which meant that Mackay, after his back-to-back victories on home soil in Calgary last week, would walk away the season’s biggest winner, earning the crystal globe in a shocking result.
Now, back to the competition at Mammoth, where Nico Porteous used his second and final attempt of the competition to put down the explosive kind of run that has become his signature, leading things off with a switch 900, into a switch dub 1080, then into his contest-breaker combo - a right dub 1620, into a left dub 1620 that no one else in the world can match right now. Finishing things off with an alley-oop dub flatspin, Porteous would earn a score of 97.00 and his career World Cup win.
“I’ve had a bit of a tough season so far,” said Porteous from the finish area, “I haven’t really been skiing the way I wanted to. But yeah, to put that run down today is a nice icing on the cake to the World Cup season. Now it’s on to the next two big events (X Games and the Olympic Winter Games).”
Before Porteous’ run it was looking like a podium sweep for the host U.S. team, but they would instead have to settle for second and third on the day, with David Wise and Aaron Blunck rounding out the podium.
Wise has been nothing if not unlucky so far this season, but on Saturday he was able to get back to the form we still expect from the 31-year-old two-time Olympic champion. Boosty, smooth and locked in properly on every one of his grabs, Wise’s 95.25-scoring first run was highlighted by a huge switch dub 1080 on the second hit, and then back-to-back left and then right double cork 1260s.
Third-place finisher Blunck also stayed true-to-form on Saturday, with his sneakily technical brand of pipe destruction on full display. Dropping a massive right dub 1440 on his first hit, straight into his signature completely blind dub down-the-pipe flat spin, Blunck had some minor bobbles later on in his run that likely kept him from climbing higher on the podium.
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