Killi and Ruud rule Mammoth in big day for Norwegian freeski
Feb 05, 2023·Freeski Park & Pipe
Freeski World Cup competition at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix wrapped up on Saturday at Mammoth Mountain in a huge day for the Norwegian team, with Johanne Killi and Birk Ruud claiming slopestyle victories in some challenging conditions, and both leaving California wearing the yellow World Cup leaders’ bibs.
While the slopeestyle venue at Mammoth was perhaps the best we’ve ever seen in decade-plus of World Cup action here, windy conditions over the past couple of days proved challenging, with the snowboard slopestyle competition slated for Saturday afternoon cancelled as the winds got stronger in the afternoon.
Luckily for the freeski competition the wind remained manageable through Saturday morning’s competition and we saw some exceptional skiing - especially in the men’s competition, where five of the 16 finalist earned a score above 90.00 points.
KILLI NOW THREE-FOR-THREE IN SLOPESTYLE THIS SEASON
In the women’s competition, however, it was really a two-skier show, as Killi and second-place finisher Kirsty Muir (GBR) were clearly a cut above on the day.
Killi’s winning run started off on the rails with a left 270 on to switch, then a switch right 270 on to forward on the down rail, and then a right k-fed on the big rainbow rail. Through the jumps Killi then went right 360 Japan, left 900 tail grab, switch left 720 Japan, and finally switch right 720 Japan to finish things off for a score of 84.80 and her third win in three slopestyle World Cup starts this season.
Most people would probably be surprised to learn that, before what has turned into the most successful season, Killi was contemplating not competing this winter at all.
“I was struggling with my mental health (before the season),” Killi said from the finish area just after the awards ceremony, “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue skiing, but I decided I would just travel with the team to see if I changed my mind. At some point I decided that I just wanted to do slopestyle comps, and now I have three slopestyle wins and I’m so, so happy. I can’t believe it. It makes me so much more motivated to keep skiing.
“Opening up to my team and my friends and family that I had kind of lost motivation actually really helped me to feel better about what I was going through. Now I’m making my own choices about skiing and it’s made me more relaxed about it.”
As mentioned, with a score of 82.00 it was Kirsty Muir who gave Killi the strongest challenge of the day on Saturday, as the 18-year-old followed up her top qualifying performance on Thursday with another strong day at the Mammoth venue on Saturday.
Super smooth through the rails and finishing her run off with a right corked 720 safety to left corked 900 tail grab on the final two jumps, Muir would easily earn her second career World Cup podium while moving herself up into fourth place on the slopestyle World Cup rankings.
Finally, third place for the women with a score of 70.80 was World Cup rookie Ruby Star Andrews (NZL), who dropped in on just the second World Cup competition of her young career and walked away with her first career podium.
Last season’s Leysin 2022 Junior World Champion in slopestyle, Andrews has made the transition to the World Cup tour look easy, stomping a Mammoth finals run highlighted by her stylish rail section where she went left slide frontside 270 out on the first rail, switch right 270 on the down, and then left backswap continuing 270 out on the rainbow rail.
With two World Cup slopestyle competition left in the season, Killi has a perfect 300 points, putting her 140 clear of Sarah Hoefflin (SUI) and her 160.
RUUD LEADS NORWEGIAN 1-2 FOR THE MEN
Over on the men’s side of things the Norwegian celebration carried on strong, as the phenom Birk Ruud returned to the top of the podium, where he was joined by his good friend and teammate Sebastian Schjerve in second place.
Ruud is having a World Cup season for the ages so far in 2022/23, with four victories in five World Cup starts - two big air wins and two in slopestyle. The only blemish on his perfect campaign is the third-place finish he earned in Laax two weeks - which was, interestingly, the first time he’s ever finished third in his international career.
However, that’s the past and Mammoth is the present, where Ruud kicked off his run with a left nosebutter 450 on to pretzel 270 out, switch right 270 on to pretzel 450 out, then a left 270 on to continuing 630 out on the rainbow rail, Through the jumps he then went switch right bio 900 safety, right double 1260 safety, switch left double 1620 mute, and finally a left double bio 1440 mute to finish things off with a score of 94.80.
“It’s been an interesting week, coming over to Mammoth straight from X Games” Ruud smiled just before the men’s awards ceremony, “I kinda just figured out my run here last minute, and today I had a good feeling. I managed to put it down first run, together with my brother Sebastian (Schjerve) - we clutched it, me first and him second. I’m super hyped for him and also for Johanne (Killi) grabbing first place as well.
“It was kind of a first-run competition, because the wind came in and it got tough. I’m glad we laced the first run.”
The win was the 12th of Ruud’s World Cup career, and moved him back ahead of Andri Ragettli (SUI) on the all-time freeski wins list, as the two have traded wins back and forth over the past few weeks.
Speaking of Ragettli, he finished in third place on Saturday. However, before we get to him we need to talk about Schjerve, who earned his second career World Cup podium in impressive fashion.
With a headspinning rail section that began with a right 630 off of the close out rail, into a switch left 270 on 360 swap continuing 270 off on flat-down tubes, and a jump line that was highlighted by a right double cork 1440 safety into a left double bio 1440 mute on the last two jumps, Schjerve would earn a score of 93.40 to join Ruud on the podium.
Finally, Ragettli, who was one of the few who managed to lace a second run on the day. Ragettli’s jump line being perhaps the gnarliest of the day, going switch right bio 900 mute, right double cork 1260 safety, switch left double misty 1620 cindy, and finally left double 1620 tail grab to finish things off for a score of 92.80 and his 26th career World Cup podium.
With the win, Ruud stole the yellow slopestyle World Cup leader’s bib back from Ragettli, while strengthening his lead on the FIS Freeski overall World Cup rankings as well.
With Mammoth in the books we’ve now got a few weeks for everyone to catch their breath before we move on to the biggest event of the season - the Bakuriani 2023 FIS Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships in Georgia, going down from February 19-March 5.
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