First halfpipe finals of 2023/24 set for Secret Garden this weekend

Dec 07, 2023·Freeski Park & Pipe

Scotty James (AUS) and Eileen Gu (CHN) © Buchholz/FIS Park & Pipe

Two big days of training are in the books and we’re ready for back-to-back days of finals at the FIS Snowboard and Freeski halfpipe World Cup Secret Garden (CHN), with the snowboarders set to drop in on the perfectly-cut Beijing 2022 Olympic pipe on Friday beginning at 11:00 local time, followed by the freeskiers on Saturday, once again at 11:00.

In Wednesday’s men’s snowboard qualifications it was Scotty James (AUS) and Ayumu Hirano (JPN) flipping spots from their final results at Beijing 2022 some 22 months ago, with Beijing 2022 silver medallist James topping the Q rankings and gold medallist Hirano just behind in second place.

Reigning halfpipe World Champion Chaeun Lee (KOR) ended up in sixth place amongst the ten men through to finals on Friday.

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Over on the women’s side of things we saw Beijing 2022 bronze medallist Sena Tomita (JPN) taking things up a notch in these qualifications, stomping an exception first run to lead the top-8 women through to finals. However, Tomita hit the deck and suffered a heavy fall back into the pipe in her second run. While she is planning on competing on Friday, how close to 100% she will be is a question hanging over proceedings at this point.

Thursday’s freeski qualifications saw China’s Snow Queen Eileen Gu getting right back to where she left off when she last donned a competition bib 11 months ago, as she put down a sparkling second run to score a 94.75 and serve notice that she’s ready for plenty more success at the site of her Beijing 2022 Olympic triumph.

However, it wasn’t straightforward domination for Gu this time around, as reigning World Champion Hanna Faulhaber of the USA showed she’s looking for more big things this season after putting down the top score in run one and forcing Gu to up her game in her second attempt. The showdowns between these two are shaping up to be must-watch action this season.

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For the men it was Bakuriani 2023 World Championships silver medallist Jon Sallinen (FIN) lacing the only men’s score in the 90’s to lead the qualifications. However, though Sallinen earned the top score, the day was arguably highlighted by the return to competition of Nico Porteous (NZL) for the first time since he won Beijing 2022 halfpipe gold.

With his qualifications halfpipe run one the likes of which we’ve never quite seen before - including a carve back to hit the left wall twice in a row - Porteous seems ready to make a statement come finals time on Saturday.

Find where-to-watch info, livestream links and more below…

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