Halfpipe World Cup returns to Copper Mountain to kick off 2021/22 season
Dec 08, 2021·Freeski Park & Pipe
The 2021/22 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup season is set to get underway this week at the USA’s Copper Mountain Resort, where the Toyota US Grand Prix will be the first of this winter’s four World Cup pipe competitions.
We’ve already put out an in-depth preview looking at the events, the favourites and some of the main storylines to follow throughout the 2021/22 halfpipe World Cup season, and you can check that out HERE.
Now we’ll take a closer look at the Copper event in particular below…
Qualifications in Copper Mountain will be going down on Wednesday, December 7th, with the women kicking things off at 9:30 local time, followed by men’s heat one at noon and men’s heat two at 14:10. The top eight women and the top five men from each heat will be punching their ticket through to the finals, which are set to start at 12:30 on Friday.
This will be the eighth iteration of the US Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, with the first halfpipe World Cup action at the venue going down back in 2011/12 and the most recent edition taking to the Copper pipe in the 2019/20 season.
The host US squad has been dominant at Copper over the years, earning 23 out of a possible 48 podiums, including a podium sweep of the men’s podium at the very first edition back in 2011.
No one has earned more podiums at Copper than Aaron Blunck (USA), as the Colorado native has three victories and five total podiums at the venue, including wins in both the 2018/19 and 2019/20 season. Close behind Blunck with two victories as well as five podiums is two-time reigning Olympic champion David Wise.
On the women’s side of things it’s Brita Sigourney matching her compatriot Wise with two victories and five podiums at the resort, including a second-place finish just behind Zoe Atkin (GBR) last time we were here in Copper in 2019. Sigourney’s teammate Devin Logan has three podiums at the venue.
For international athletes on the scene this time around it’s Kelly Sildaru (EST) and Kevin Rolland (FRA) with past wins at Copper, while the likes of Rachael Karker, Cassie Sharpe and Noah Bowman of the Canadian squad, as well as Gus Kenworthy (GBR), Zhang Kevin (CHN) and Miguel Porteous all have past podiums here.
Despite some challenging weather through the early part of the season in Colorado, the crews here at Copper have done a phenomenal job of constructing a pipe worthy of an Olympic qualification event in this all-important season.
The best-of-the-best are all on hand here in Copper and ready to get the season started on a high, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store this week.
WHERE TO WATCH
We’ll be updating this section on the webstory as soon as the information on international broadcasters and livestream becomes available. Or, stay tuned to our social media channels for the latest information.
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