Season opening halfpipe wins for Gu and Mackay in Cardrona
Sep 09, 2024·Freeski Park & Pipe)
The Winter Games NZ 2024 closed out in style today with the world’s best halfpipe skiers battling for the first points of the 2024/25 season at the finals of the FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup presented by La Roche Posay & Cardrona Alpine Resort.
China’s Eileen Gu landed the 15th World Cup win of her career - the highest of any male or female Freeski athlete - outscoring her fellow competitors on each of her three runs. In the men’s field, Brendan Mackay (CAN) came out with a point to prove having qualified in 10th place and finished his day with a gold medal.
For Gu, today’s record-breaking win was particularly sweet as it was at Cardrona Alpine Resort that she scored her very first World Cup halfpipe podium five years ago.
“It's a full circle moment,” says Gu. “My 15th World Cup win back at the location of my first World Cup podium five years ago.” She continued, “The weather and the conditions did not make it easy today but it’s a testament to my love of skiing. Every new contest feels novel and exciting, there’s no complacency here, my goal is to continue pushing myself, pushing the sport, pushing women’s skiing. Seeing that record being broken today for men and women means a tonne to me and it’s something I’ll carry with me and I hope to continue breaking records in the future.”
With wind and snow creating challenging conditions as the competition got underway, the 10 men and eight women who had made the cut from Friday’s qualifying rounds had their work cut out for them in Cardrona's 22-foot halfpipe.
Tactics would be key with a choice between erring on the side of caution and getting a safe run on the board or pushing hard despite the weather. Competition experience would certainly prove to be a factor.
Last to drop into the pipe in the women’s field, Olympic gold medallist Eileen Gu waited patiently for a break in the howling wind before starting her first run. Opening with a huge right side 900, she set the bar with a score of 92.00 on run one. Although none of her competitors would be able to match that, Gu was not resting on her laurels, showing fantastic trick execution and technique as well as gaining massive amplitude out of the pipe and improving her score to 94.5 on run two.
When it came time for her third and final run, Gu already had the win in the bag but still she pushed with a trademark high-level run including a rightside cork 900 Buick grab, left side cork 900 Japan, right side 720 lead tail, switch left 720 Japan, left alley-oop flat spin 540 mute grab. The judges awarded a score of 96 points, praising her good amplitude, variety of tricks, consistently good grabs and for spinning her tricks in four different directions.
“It means so much,” says Gu of today’s victory. “I think for me, skiing is always about pushing the next level so I was happy with the 92 on run one but I wanted to push it to 94 and then I wanted to push to 96.
“Every contest is a new challenge so having that resilience mentally and physically to compete and put it down when it counts, it’s a challenge every time. It keeps it fun and exciting, it’s what I love about skiing.”
While no one could beat Gu, the battle for second place was on between Kexin Zhang (CHN) and birthday girl Rachael Karker (CAN), who turned 27 on Monday at Cardona.
Zhang held the higher score after the first run with 85.25 while Karker sat just behind with a score of 83.25. With Zhang unable to improve her score on run two, the Canadian leapfrogged ahead of her with 87.00 points but Zhang was able to answer with a score of 89.25 on her final run, the judges rewarding her with second place for good trick variety and execution. With her third run, Karker did not improve on her second run score and finished her day in third place.
Having only just squeezed into the men’s finals as the 10th-place qualifier, Canadian Brendan Mackay was determined to improve on his performance today.
He explains, “I had a difficult qualifying and I didn’t feel like I deserved to be in the finals. I really wanted to come out and prove I have what it takes and make it up to myself.”
Sitting in second place behind countryman Andrew Longino after run one, the 2023 World Champion knew he would need to push even harder on his second run.
The judges rewarded him with a score of 90.00 points for a clean, huge-amplitude effort, which included a switch left alley-oop double cork 900 critical, switch left down the pipe double cork 1080 safety grab, right side double cork 1260 safety and a left side double cork 1260 safety.
First to drop in on the third run, Mackay was unable to up his score and would have a nervous wait to see if it would hold up for the win.
Meanwhile, Alex Ferreira (USA), last season’s halfpipe and Freeski overall crystal globe winner, was also making his way up the leaderboard, moving into second place on run two with a score of 89.00 points, just one point behind Mackay.
With five World Cup wins, plus X Games and Dew Tour gold medals on his record from last season, Ferreira was definitely capable of snatching a last-minute victory. While he would come close, the judges awarding him 89.50 for his last run - close, but not quite enough to push Mackay off the top spot.
“It feels amazing to put down the run I wanted,” said Mackay after the competition. “A massive shout out to all riders in those challenging conditions. The wind definitely made it scarier but when it’s like that you’ve just got to push through and trust what you can do on skis and let it rip.”
Longino would finish his day in third place, earning his first career World Cup podium with a score of 87.75 points for his standout second effort, as the 22-year-old capped off an impressive three-podium showing for the Canadian squad.
Young Kiwi competitors Finley Melville Ives (18) and Luke Harrold (16) struggled to back up their performances on Friday which saw them qualify in first and third place respectively. Melville Ives finished today’s competition in 10th place and Harrold in seventh. While it may not have been the results they were looking for, the pair have proved themselves more than capable of competing against the best in the world and a genuine threat to the World Cup podium.
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