Copper Mountain freeski big air preview
Dec 16, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
Over a month and a half since we opened the season at the Big Air Chur back in October, we are back with the second big air World Cup of the season, where we’re bringing the big jump back to Copper Mountain (USA) for the VISA Big Air presented Toyota with qualifications going down on Wednesday, 14 December, and finals on Friday, 16 December.
While FIS Snowboard has seen big air World Cup action at Copper in the past, this will be the first time that the freeskiers get to drop in on the Copper venue. With a super smooth, medium-poppy, on-piste jump set-up here at the Copper US Grand Prix the vibes are high and the trick selections already seen through two days of training suggests that this week’s competition is going to be a season-highlight.
While there’s some light snow and cold temps in the forecast for the next few days, similar conditions in Tuesday’s training had no ill-effects on the skiers and we should be on track for men’s qualifications heat one beginning at 9:25 MT, heat two at 11:25 and finally women’s qualies at 13:25.
Finals are slated to take place beginning at 10:00 local time on Friday.
LEDEUX LOOKS TO LEAD THE WAY ONCE AGAIN
The women’s startlist isn’t huge for the Copper big air, but it is strong, and when we get down to the eight-skier final on Friday it’s guaranteed to be a good one.
The first name to jump off the page is France’s Tess Ledeux, as the 21-year-old comes into competition at Copper as the big air World Cup leader following her win in Chur. The silver medallist at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, Ledeux hasn’t missed a big air World Cup podium in the last two seasons, and with her bag of tricks she’s as good a top-3 lock as you’re going to find anywhere in freeskiing.
Ledeux will be pushed though, with the likes of Switzerland’s Sarah Hoefflin and Mathilde Gremaud, Canada’s Megan Oldham and Olivia Asselin, Kirsty Muir of Great Britain, and Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru all more than capable of earning a W this week.
Hoefflin has the second most FIS Freeski big air podiums of all-time with seven, and if she adds another one this week she’ll be tied with her teammate Giulia Tanno atop the ranks, while Hoefflin’s four big air podiums has her in a tie for fifth-place with Ledeux.
Somewhat surprisingly, neither Oldham or Asselin has ever landed on a big air World Cup podium, though with the skill boasted by each skier it really should be only a matter of time.
Sildaru, of course, is one of the select few who can boast a podium in all three of the World Cup freeski events, and with her technical abilities can’t be counted out for the win here in Copper.
Finally, keep an eye on Sandra Eie of Norway, the current leader of the freeski overall World Cup standings after a runner-up finish at the Big Air Chur and a fifth at the Stubai slopestyle World Cup.
RUUD LOOKING TO MAKE IT FOR 3-FOR-3 SO FAR IN 2022/23
Sticking with the Norwegian flavour to kick off things on the men's side of the conversation, we need to talk about the fact that when it comes to freeskiing, right now it is Birk Ruud’s world and the rest of us are just living it.
With wins at both the Big Air Chur and the Stubai slopestyle, Ruud is absolutely cruising to open the 2022/23 campaign, showing no signs of easing off the gas after his gold medal big air win at Beijing 2022. Ruud’s bag of tricks is unparalleled and ever-evolving, and there’s really no telling what sort of magic he might pull out if pushed to his limits. Ruud skiing exudes joy, and he’s worth tuning in for in-and-of himself.
The thing about freeskiing is that the balance of power is constantly shifting, with every athlete a student of the game; learning, adapting, evolving and hunting down the next level at every opportunity. Ruud may be the king right now, but you know every other man on the start list is analyzing his every move as they work to catch up.
The US team has a long and heavy list of skiers with the capabilities to shake things up this week, with Beijing 2022 slopestyle winner Alex Hall leading the way. While it’s been a minute since his last big air win - almost exactly three years, in fact - Hall’s second place finish last season in Steamboat show’s he’s still got what takes to get it done on the big jump.
If training is any indication, perhaps even hotter than Hall here in Copper is Mac Forehand, who was floating effortless left 1800 stalefishes before the first training session was even an hour old on Monday.
Then there’s Troy Podmilsak, the 18-year-old who earned his first career podium with a third-place finish at the Big Air Chur. Fearless and technical, Podmilsak is a big part of the future of the US Freeski team, and a home-soil podium this week would hammer that point home.
As always, the Scandinavians are exceptionally well-represented this week in Copper, with reigning big air World Champion Oliwer Magnusson and Jesper Tjader leading the Swedish team, Sebastian Schjerve, Tormod Frostad and Christian Nummedal backing up Ruud for the Norwegians, and the resurgent Elias Syrjah representing Finland.
It goes without saying that Switzerland’s Andri Ragettli should be in the mix at Friday’s finals, seeing as how the 24-year-old has only missed the finals once in the past seven seasons. Expect him to come out firing after just missing the podium with a fourth-place finish in Chur.
This far into the preview and we haven’t even spoken of Matej Svancer of Austria or Canada’s Max Moffat, Spain’s Javier Lliso or Thibault Magnin, Leonardo Donaggio of Italy…the list keeps going on.
This is going to be a good one.
WHERE TO WATCH (livestream links below)
skiandsnowboard.live (USA), Eurosport 2 Asia, Eurosport Asia streaming, CBC streaming (CAN), CCTV16 (CHN), CT Sport Plus streaming (CZE), TV3 Sport 3HD (EST), V Sport + (FIN), L’Equipe streaming (FRA), RAI Sport (ITA), TV3 Sport (LAT, LIT), ESPN Latin America, V Sport 1 (NOR), Polsat Sport News (POL), JOJ Sport (SVK), TVE/Teledeporte (ESP), V Sport Vinter (SWE), SRG SSR (SUI), Viaplay streaming (GBR)
QUICK LINKS
Copper Mountain Toyota US Grand Prix halfpipe World Cup data page (start lists, livescoring, results)
YouTube livestream (with geo restrictions)
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