Explosive Copper Mountain big air finals sees wins for Oldham and Ruud
Dec 17, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
Two jam-packed days of World Cup competitions at Copper Mountain (USA) opened on Friday with a mind-blowing display from a heavy field of the world’s best freeskiers, where Megan Oldham of Canada and Norway’s Birk Ruud put on show-stopping performances to claim the victories at the VISA Big Air presented by Toyota.
While it was blisteringly cold out on Friday morning at Copper, clear skies, no wind and a big air jump running perfectly mean that the heavy hitters on hand for finals were throwing down at the absolute limit of what is possible in freeskiing right now - including 1620s on the women’s side of things and a collection of 1960s from the men.
OLDHAM EARNS CAREER-FIRST BIG AIR WORLD CUP WIN
While it was Tess Ledeux who would be rewarded for the best trick of the day on the women’s field for her left double cork 1620 cindy, when she wasn’t able to put down the landing gear on her third and final attempt of the competition it became clear that we would have a new big air winner in the second event of the 2022/23 season.
And that winner was Megan Oldham, who claimed her first career big air World Cup victory with a stylish, stand-out pair of runs, beginning with a left double 1260 mute on her first run, which she followed by an equally-as-clean right double 1260 safety on run number two for a combined score of 176.00 that would prove untouchable through run three.
“I wasn’t expecting this today,” Oldham said after stomping a massive left 360 opposite tail on her victory lap third run, “I was mainly focused on landing my jumps, and I was hoping for good weather, which we got. I’m happy to have ended up with both feet on the podium.”
“It was crazy to have my first-ever ‘victory lap!’ It felt great to be standing at the top, deciding what I wanted to do. I really enjoyed that moment,” added Oldham, who now holds third place in the overall rankings.
Second place behind Oldham went to Beijing 2022 slopestyle gold medallist Mathilde Gremaud, who started things off with a left double cork 1260 safety, fell on her second run, and then finished strong with a switch left double cork 1080 safety on her final run for a score of 172.00 and her 14th career World Cup podium.
Rounding out the podium in third and capping a big day for the Canadian team was Oldham’s teammate Olivia Asselin, as the 18-year-old grabbed her first career World Cup top-3 with style. Stomping a left double 1080 safety in run two and a switch left double 1080 mute in her third run for a combined score of 169.00, Asselin finally made good on the promise she’s been showing for the past few seasons.
HISTORY-MAKING MORNING AS RUUD EARNS 11TH WORLD CUP WIN
Over on the men’s side of things it was once again the Birk Ruud show, as the 22-year-old Norwegian won his third-straight World Cup competition so far in 2022/23, while in the process making a whole bunch of history and further strengthening his case as the greatest freeskier in the world.
First up for his history books were his tricks - a switch left triple cork 1960 mute on run one, and then - in what will go down as one of the gnarliest victory laps freeskiing has ever seen - a left double bio 1960 mute.
Neither trick had ever been done in World Cup competition, but on Friday at Copper, Ruud made each of them look almost routine, and his two-jump score of 192.00 points - just 8.00 points shy of perfection - reflected the otherworldly level that the current overall World Cup leader is skiing at right now.
“It means a lot to me,” Ruud said of what he achieved at Copper, “I came here with one goal, and that was to put down two good tricks. I guess I put down all three. Today I did the first-ever double bio 1960 in competition. I also think the switch triple 19, that’s the first time it’s been done on the World Cup. I’m very happy with my skiing and super happy for the boys. The level is crazy and I’m proud to be a part of it and to be on top today.”
Perhaps even more important than becoming the first skier to put down two of his three tricks in World Cup competition, Ruud also earned his 11th World Cup victory, passing Andri Ragettli (SUI) for the most freeski wins in World Cup history. It’s a number that will assuredly go up, but as of Friday, 16 December 2022 Ruud stands alone in FIS Freeski World Cup success.
Second place for the men went to France’s Timothe Sivignon, who earned his first career World Cup podium in impressive fashion. After finishing first in qualifications on the strength of a stellar left triple cork 1960 mute, the 19-year-old showed himself to be more than a one trick pony by stomping the trip 1960, plus a switch left double bio 1800 mute on his final run for a combined score of 184.25 for the career milestone.
Finally, capping off a exceptional day for the Norwegians in the men’s competition was Ruud’s teammate Sebastian Schjerve, who put down a left double bio 1800 mute and then an outrageous switch left double bio 1800 tail grab to stalefish for a score of 182.50, third place, and his first World Cup podium, as well.
FIS Freeski World Cup action at Copper Mountain continues tomorrow, when we’ll be opening up the 2022/23 halfpipe World Cup season with women’s and men’s finals beginning at 13:00 MST.
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Photos (courtesy U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team)
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