Gu and Ferreira cap dominant season with crystal globe wins in Calgary
Feb 18, 2024·Freeski Park & Pipe
The 2023/24 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup season came to an explosive conclusion on Saturday night at the Calgary Snow Rodeo, where the two most dominant pipe forces on earth Eileen Gu (CHN) and Alex Ferreira (USA) each walked away with their second victories of the week, the respective women’s and men’s halfpipe World Cup crystal globes, and fresh World Cup records to add to the history books.
GU TIES BIRK RUUD FOR ALL-TIME FREESKI WINS RECORD WITH CAREER BEST SCORE
Capping off her first full season of halfpipe competition since 2021/22, Gu once again proved that she’s simply in a league of her own on Saturday, storming to her eighth career victory in Calgary with a staggering victory lap that earned her a score of 97.00 - the highest score of her career thus far.
Gu’s winning run saw her start out with a right 900 Buick, which lead into a left 900 Japan, then a right 720 opposite tail, a switch left 720 Japan, a left alley-oop flat 540 mute, and then a right alley-oop flat 540 safety to finish things off, all executed to perfection.
Bigger than that, however, was what Saturday’s win did for her all-time totals, as the 14th victory of her World Cup career moved her two ahead of Tess Ledeux (FRA) for the women’s all-time benchmark, and into a tie with Birk Ruud (NOR) for the most for any FIS Freeski World Cup athlete, full stop.
And the fun didn’t stop there for Gu, either, as with a season total of 480 points the 20-year-old handily claimed her second career crystal globe as the top women’s halfpipe skier of the season, while moving herself within striking distance of Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) on the FIS Freeski overall World Cup rankings.
“Everything went perfectly here tonight,” Gu said following her record-tying win, “First off, a huge thank you to the crew here in Calgary. I’ve made it clear that I love this place, it feels like home for me, so huge shout-out to the people who make this event happen.
“And yeah, to be tied with Birk Ruud (NOR) for number one, he’s an incredible athlete and I’m honoured to be tied up there at number one with him. I’d like for it to be just me soon, but we’ll see!
Discussing her top-scoring victory lap, Gu got into more detail about her process.
“I’m kind of notorious for not taking (easy) victory laps,” she said, “I think this sport really is about pushing yourself and breaking your own boundaries. I love to compete, I love to win, but more than anything I love to be a little better than I was yesterday. So yeah, I thought I had to step it up a little bit and show everyone what I’ve been working on. I’m really proud of what I put down out there tonight.”
Second place for the women went to Zoe Atkin of Great Britain, who was again on her smooth, consistent game, with both her first two runs scoring in the 90s.
Her best was her 92.00 point-scoring first, in which she went left 540 mute, into a right 720 safety, then switch left 720 Japan, right 540 opposite tail, right alley-oop 360 tail, and finally switch right 720 opposite safety to lock down her fourth podium on the season and secure third place on the final halfpipe World Cup rankings with 260 points.
Racking up a career milestone of her own in third place was the USA’s Svea Irving, who secured her first World Cup podium with a third and final run that saw her go left alley-oop flat 540 Japan, then left 540 safety to Japan, into a right 720 safety, then a switch left 360 mute, a corked right 540 safety, and finally a left 900 safety to finish things off.
Irving’s final effort bumped Amy Fraser off of the podium and into fourth place, but the top Canadian hopeful would not walk away from the night empty-handed, as she would finish the season ranked second behind Gu with a total of 290 points to claim the 2023/24 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup silver medal.
FERREIRA COMPLETES PERFECT WORLD CUP SEASON
Over on the men’s side of things the Alex Ferreira show ended the season with one more near-perfect performance to cap off a landmark, World Cup-first perfect season, as the 29-year-old made it five-for-five in 2023/24 to set a men’s halfpipe wins record that we will likely not see soon repeated.
While the previous men’s World Cup win streak of three-straight was set by Kalle Leinonen (FIN) over the course two seasons from 2005-2007, no skier in history had previously knocked off three victories in one World Cup season in men’s competition, and certainly not three in a row. For Ferreira to go perfect across five competitions in 2023/24 represents a level of excellence in one of freeskiing’s most demanding forums that simply defies the imagination.
Ferreira got the job done on Saturday with his first run of the evening, leading things off with a switch left 1080 blunt, straight into a massive right double 16 safety, followed by a left 1080 opposite tail, a switch right double down-the-pipe 1080 double Japan, and finally finished things off with an exclamation point left double 1620 safety for a score of 95.50.
“It feels absolutely spectacular,” Ferreira said achieving the record-setting feat, “I can’t even believe my eyes, but maybe it’s just like how I saw it in my dreams.
“The goal is to go to Dew Tour next and close the season out with a perfect seven-for-seven (including his X Games win). I’m not going to change anything, I’m going to just keep doing me.”
On top of his record-setting win streak and his halfpipe crystal globe win, Ferreira finishes his season in the best position possible position to also claim the men’s FIS Freeski overall crystal globe, with his perfect 500 points putting him 156 points above countryman Alex Hall with three events to go for the halfpipe and big air skiers.
While the FIS Freeski overall trophy has only been up for grabs since the 2020/21 season, before that there was the FIS Freestyle overall trophy, which was contested by all the athletes competing within the discipline, including moguls, aerials, ski cross, slopestyle, big air and halfpipe skiers.
Since freeski halfpipe first became a World Cup event 20 years ago, in the 2003/04 season, no men’s halfpipe skier has won one of the big trophies. Ferreira may be the man to finally break through for the halfpipe contingent.
Second place for the men went to Jon Sallinen of Finland, who claimed the third World Cup podium of his career at the same venue as his first two with a heroic effort in the final run of the week in Calgary.
The top qualifier from Friday, Sallinen had the honour of dropping in last on the night, and needing something big to climb onto the podium in a competition that saw a slew of heavy runs, the 23-year-old delivered in a big way.
Kicking things off with a switch left double cork 1080 Japan, Sallinen then went into a right double 1260 double Japan, then a left 1080 tail, a switch right double 1080 Japan, and finally a left double 1260 safety - all boosted and all stomped to perfection to earn a score of 94.50.
As with the women, third place for the men went to another World Cup top-3 first timer, as South Korea’s Seung Hun Lee put down one of the most thrilling halfpipe runs in recent memory to grab a piece of the podium.
Leading things off with a massive switch switch left double cork 1080 safety, Lee kept the amplitude through the roof through the rest of his run with a right double 1260 safety, a left dub 16 cindy, and finally a right 900 opposite tail. While he was only able to fit four hits into his run with all that boosting, four hits was all he needed, and a score of 94.00 would give both Lee and the Korean team their first ever halfpipe World Cup podiums.
Despite not making finals on Saturday night, behind Ferreira in second on the men’s final halfpipe World Cup rankings would be his U.S. Ski & Snowboard teammate Hunter Hess with 290 points. Meanwhile, Sallinen and his 230 points on the season would round out the halfpipe overall podium in third place.
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