Mackay takes maiden win while Gu makes it two-for-two in Calgary
Dec 31, 2021·Freeski Park & Pipe
The first competition of a heavy week of FIS World Cup action in Calgary (CAN) went down on Thursday evening at WinSport Canada Olympic Park, where Eileen Gu (CHN) claimed her second halfpipe World Cup win of the season for the women, and Calgary’s own Brendan Mackay stepped up with a clutch performance for the men to earn his first career World Cup victory on home soil.
We say “home soil,” but “home tundra” might have been more appropriate, as temperatures in Calgary once again dipped into the -20s on Thursday evening. Still, despite the frigid conditions, the top eight women and top 10 men dropping on on Thursday’s finals found a way to up their game, digging deep to stomp some exceptional runs.
“Chaotic” arrival can’t keep Gu off top of the podium
Eileen Gu’s path to the top of the podium on Thursday was a wild one, as the 18-year-old was only able to arrive in Calgary on Wednesday evening after losing her passport earlier in the week.
Showing up to the halfpipe at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park for the first time on the day of competition, Gu spent a mere 45 minutes getting acquainted with the venue in training before dropping in on qualifications and locking down the highest score with relative ease.
Moving on to finals, Gu upped the ante in the icy Calgary halfpipe, putting down what was one of her most impressive runs to date.
Leading off with her signature right 540 seatbelt, Gu then stomped a left 540 double Japan, into a right 720 tail, then a switch left 360 Japan, before finishing things off with a new combo that promises to help earn her a whole lot more wins in the future - left alley-oop flat 540 mute into a right alley-oop flat 540 safety to finish things off and take her second win in two attempts at Calgary.
“Yesterday I was in a different country with a lost passport and I had no idea how I was even going to get here,” Gu smiled from the finish area, “But I figured it out at the very last moment, got to my flight, was the last person on my flight, forgot my phone charger, no mom, no coach…everything was just kind of chaotic.
“But I’ve been talking to my mom and my coach on the chairlift and getting amazing support from my friends here, so it’s been good. We made it work. I wanted to come out here and have fun because this is fun for me. That was the goal and I had a great time tonight.”
The win gave Gu two halfpipe World Cup victories this season, to go along with her Dew Tour halfpipe win and her win earlier in December at the Steamboat big air World Cup. With three wins in three competitions, Gu now has a commanding early season lead atop both the halfpipe and the FIS Freeski overall leaderboards.
Second place on Thursday went to the USA’s Hanna Faulhaber for her first career World Cup podium, as the highest-boosting woman in freeski halfpipe continues to add more tricks and greater consistency to her already impressive amplitude.
Faulhaber scored 92.80 for a first run that included a massive tail grab off the top, left and right side flair safety grabs, and an incredibly clean cork 720 safety, giving her her second straight big-competition top-3 after she finished third at the Dew Tour two weeks ago.
“It’s a crazy one for sure,” said Faulhaber on her first World Cup podium, “It’s great to be able to put down consistently and I’m just happy to keep it going. I don’t know really what to say, I’m just excited for how it’s going and it’s unbelievable – I never thought that I would be here.”
Third place went to Canada’s Rachael Karker for the first of three podiums on the day for the host nation. Sitting in fourth before her final run, Karker was able to step things up when it mattered most, corking things out on all of her first four hits with a left flair, right flair, cork left 900 Japan, and a right cork 900 to earn herself a score of 90.20 and to keep her World Cup podium streak alive with her seventh-straight top-3.
With two wins, Gu sits atop the World Cup halfpipe rankings with 200 points, followed by Karker with 140, and Faulhaber with 125.
Mackay takes maiden World Cup win at home
Over in the men’s competition there was a changes on the podium throughout the evening, with it looking at one point things were all lined up for a Canadian podium sweep on home soil.
The one thing that reminded consistent throughout the evening, however, was the standout performance by Calgary’s own Brendan Mackay, who stomped three runs that scored above 92 points on Thursday - including a third-and-final attempt that might have been the best run of his life, considering the conditions.
Mackay lead things off with a switch left alley-oop double flatspin 900 safety, into a smooth left switch left 720 safety and then a right 900 tail, before going ballistic on his last two hits with a left dub 1260 safety into a right dub 1260 safety to finish his run off, stomping three double corks on a night when only one other skier even attempted two.
Despite claiming the first World Cup win of his career in his hometown, Mackay was his typically understated self before the awards ceremony.
“Yeah, I mean, I guess I’m kinda out of words. I’m just super stoked to put it down at home,” said Mackay, “I want to thank all the volunteers and staff who worked super hard to get the event going, in pretty extreme temperatures. We all really appreciate you.
“It feels really nice to come out on top,” Mackay went on when asked about Alex Ferreira (USA), who he’s finished runner-up to twice so far this season, “Everyone’s been skiing at a super high level, and Alex (Ferreira) especially has been really putting it down really consistently, so it feels pretty good to be on top today.”
Ferreira, winner of the Copper Mountain halfpipe World Cup and the Dew Tour so far this winter, would have to settle for a score of 94.80 and second place on Thursday. While his skiing was as clinically clean as ever, with a left dub 1260 tindy into a right dub flat 900 safety to start things off and a picture-perfect left 1080 tail to finish, Ferreira just couldn’t match Mackay’s explosiveness in the Canadian’s home pipe.
Third place went to another one of Canada’s finest, as Simon D’Artois put down a third run that scored 94.40 to bump his teammate and friend Noah Bowman off the podium. With a massive air-to-fakie to kick things off and his signature left double alley-oop flatspin 720 safety to end it, D’Artois would cap off a big evening for the host squad with the Canadians third podium.
Ferreira sits atop the men’s halfpipe World Cup standings with 180 points, followed by Mackay at 160, and D’Artois with 105.
After a day off on Friday we’ll be right back at it on Saturday at the Snow Rodeo for a very special New Year’s Day halfpipe World Cup competition, with qualifications set to begin at 9:50 and finals once again going down at 18:00.
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