Gremaud and Hall rise to the top in Mammoth slopestyle
Feb 04, 2024·Freeski Park & Pipe
Another eventful week of Mammoth Mountain Toyota U.S. Grand Prix freeski and snowboard action wrapped up on Saturday, where the weather finally cooperated and Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud and the USA’s own Alex Hall claimed victories in the third slpestyle competition of the 2023/24 season.
The one decent competition day sandwiched between two heavy winter storms which are bringing some much-needed snow to the region, Saturday still required all the skill available from the athletes on hand, and then some, as some gusty winds and tricky snow conditions kept the finalists on their toes.
GREMAUD EARNS FIFTH VICTORY OF 2023/24
However, the cream rises to the top in challenging situations, and on the women’s side of things that meant that Mathilde Gremaud was the one throwing it down the hardest throughout the day.
The leader of the slopestyle, big air and FIS Freeski overall crystal globe races, Gremaud has been on a tear so for this season, taking down four wins and five podiums in five World Cup starts leading up to action at Mammoth.
On Saturday Gremaud was able to make it five wins on the season with another standout performance.
Leading off her first run with a left on frontside switch-up to pretzel 270 out on the first rail, Gremaud then went switch right side 270 on, then left on to 450 out on the final rail section, before going with a left 540 opposite tail, then a switch left 540, and finally a big right rodeo 900 safety to finish things off for a score of 66.30 and her first win at Mammoth Mountain in five years.
“It’s always nice to be able to put down runs when it’s tough conditions,” Gremaud said following the awards ceremony, “I’m really thankful that I’m able to use my experience and trust myself when it’s tricky out. We didn’t have a lot of training, so it was just like, ok, I’ll do a run that’s not that complicated for me, but I still had to put it down without too many mistakes and all in all I’m still super stoked.”
Second place for the women with a score of 61.20 went to unheralded U.S. rookie Eleanor Andrews, who was competing in the first World Cup competition of her career fresh off of an eighth place slopestyle finish at the Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games last week.
Dropping in second to last on the day, Andrews put together perhaps the most consistently boosty run of the women’s competition, including a right corked 720 safety to left corked 720 mute combo over the final two jumps to earn a score of 61.20 and a dream World Cup debut at just 16 years old.
Rounding out the podium in third was Jay Riccomini, who earned his second straight World Cup podium after a third place finish at the Laax Open two weeks ago. With a competition-highlight right slide to misty 450 out on the canon rail and a big corked 720 tailgrab on the final jump, Riccomini would earn a score of 53.38 and a piece of the Mammoth podium.
HALL GRABS YELLOW BIB WITH MINDBLOWING FINAL RUN
Over on the men’s side of things it was Alex Hall stepping it up on his second and final attempt of the day with a trademark display of technical wizardry and inimitable progression to claim his first World Cup slopestyle win in just over two years.
Starting his 86.66-scoring winning run with a Tokyo drift right 180 on to frontside switch-up continuing 270 off, Hall kept the insanity rolling with a left slide to backside switch-up pretzel 270 out on the next rail, then a left 270 on tail-tap to 450 nose-tap on the knuckle on the way out, before going through the jumps with a left double cork 1260 opposite Japan, then switch left double 1260 mute, and finally a right 1080 bring-back to 900 safety on the final booter.
“I’m stoked. It was super tough conditions, but the park crew here in Mammoth killed it getting the course cleaned up and ready for today,” Hall said from the finish area, “We had a decent day today, we made it work, we were all hungry for it.
“I’m glad we went today. We saw some incredible runs. The top five guys all had amazing runs and it could have gone any way. It was really fun to watch. And I’m stoked on my skiing, which is always the most important part. I’m glad to put one down and be healthy at the end of this week and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.”
With the win, Hall was able to move into a tie with his U.S. teammate Mac Forehand on the slopestyle World Cup rankings, while overtaking Forehand on the FIS Freeski overall rankings as well.
Second place for the men went to Hall’s U.S. Ski & Snowboard teammate Colby Stevenson, who returned to the World Cup podium for the first time since the start of the 2022/23 season with an explosive second run.
Throwing down through the jump line with a left double 1620 opposite Japan, then a switch left double cork 1440 double Japan, and finally a switch rightsize double 1440 mute on the money booter, Stevenson would earn a score of 84.88 for the 10th World Cup podium of his career.
Taking the last step on the men’s podium in third place was FIS Freeski’s all-time top-3 leader Andri Ragettli of Switzerland. With a switch left continuing 630 out on launch rail and switch left double misty guitar grab on the final jump, Ragettli would earn a score of 83.45 and the 29th podium of his incredible career.
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