Karker and Irving on top in halfpipe season-opener at Copper
Dec 18, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
A non-stop week of snowboard and freeski action in Copper Mountain (USA) came to a close on Saturday afternoon in Copper’s pristine halfpipe, where Rachael Karker of Canada and the USA’s own Birk Irving stepped up in a big way to open the 2022/23 halfpipe season with victories.
With snowboard and freeski big air and halfpipe all going down at Copper this week, the resort hosted four sets of qualifications and four finals, making for four solid days of competition at the ski area that rightly calls itself “The Athletes’ Mountain.” And, as always, the good people at Copper and the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team ably stepped up to the plate to provide the venues and organisation for an incredible set of events.
KARKER MAKES IT NINE PODIUMS IN A ROW WITH SECOND CAREER WIN
It all came to a close on Saturday in the pipe, where the most consistent woman in freeski Rachael Karker came through with her ninth-straight World Cup podium, putting down a boosty first run that would withstand all challenges through the rest of the afternoon.
Leading things off with a left flair mute, Karker would then go right 900 Japan, left 900, right flair safety, left 720, and finally a switch alley-oop left 540 to finish things off, earning herself a score of 89.50 and the second victory of her World Cup career.
Second place for the women went to Karker’s Canadian teammate Amy Fraser, as the 27-year-old hit a career milestone with her first World Cup podium.
Fraser has been progressing in leaps and bounds since her World Cup debut in the 2019/20 season, and on Saturday at Copper that was on full display as she started things off with a switch right 540, into a switch left 540, and then a switch right 720 Japan, a left flair safety, a right corked 900 and finally a left corked 900 to finish things off with a score 85.25.
Third place for the women belonged to Kelly Sildaru of Estonia, who was once again her consistent and technical self while earning a score of 82.00. Beginning her run with a right side 900, Sidaru then went left 540 tail grab, left alley-oop 540 tail, right alley-oop 540 tail, right 720 tail, switch left 720 tail, and finally, squeezing one more hit out of the pipe, a switch right 540 Japan.
FINAL RUN HEROICS GIVE IRVING THE EDGE
The men’s competition at Copper was a wild and dramatic affair, with an incredible combination of landed runs and highlight tricks warming up the vibe even while the temperatures around the venue plummeted.
Heading into his final run, Birk Irving was sitting in third place after a first-run score of 89.25, and knew he would have to step it up in run three if he was going to bump Brendan Mackay (CAN) out of the top spot the Canadian had held since his first attempt.
And step it up Irving did, coming out of the gate with a switch left 1080 tail grab, into a huge right double cork 1260 Japan, and then a perfect left double cork 1440 safety, a switch right 720 Japan, and finally a mind-bending left double down-the-pipe 720 safety to finish things off, earning himself a score of 93.57 and his first World Cup win in over three years.
Already in the finish area after his final run, all Mackay could do was sit back and applaud when Irving rolled into the finish area to be greeted by the thrilled Copper crowd on hand.
Still, there was nothing to be ashamed of for Mackay, who brought his A-game to both his first and his third runs.
Mackay’s third was his highest scoring with 92.50 points, in which he kicked things off with a huge switch left alley-oop double cork 900, into a switch left dub 1080, then a right cork 900 tail, a left double 1260 safety, and finally a right double 1260 safety. The result was the sixth podium of Mackay’s career, with all of those podiums coming in a streak that dates back to the middle of the 2019/20 season.
Finally, third place went to another Canadian, as the veteran Noah Bowman pulled himself together after incomplete runs in attempts one and two to stomp a standout in his final go through the Copper pipe.
Leading things off with a right double cork 1260 safety, Bowman would continue on with a left 1080 tail, a switch bone roll, switch left double cork 1080 safety, and finally a right 1080 tail grab to earn himself a score of 91.00 and his 12th career World Cup podium.
With Copper a wrap we now break for the holidays, with the FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup returning to action in the new year in Calgary (CAN), where back-to-back competitions are slated to take place from 19-21 January, 2023.
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