US girls dominate Mammoth Mountain halfpipe qualifiers

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Four of the six finalists of the 2016-17 season's third halfpipe World Cup which is currently staged at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix tour stop in Mammoth Mountain are representing the stars and stripes of America.

And as it looks right after the full-on women's qualifiers, a tight duel of generations is on the agenda on Saturday, when the finals will start at 6:30 PM CET.

US team veteran Kelly Clark will then have the advantage of dropping in last as the highly decorated snowboarder earned a 92.25 for her frontside air indy to backside 540 mute, frontside 720 indy, cab 720 indy, a crippler indy and a backside air.

Nevertheless, Chloe Kim – the 16 year-old halfpipe sensation who has won both halfpipe World Cup stops this season in fashion – is close of Clark's back who had earned her Olympic gold when Kim was two years old.

Kim threw down a slightly different run with some more switch variations compared to Clark earning a 91.00 for her backside air indy to frontside 720 indy, cab 540 mute, switch backside 540 indy and a cab 720 indy.

As if that wouldn't be promising enough for Saturday's finals, Hannah Teter, the 2006 Olympic gold medallist and age-wise right in between the top-2 qualifiers, threw in also her hat by stomping a backside air indy to frontside 540 melon, backside 540, frontside 720 stalefish, cab 360, frontside air indy and a backside 900 being awarded with a score of 90.25.

And then there are also Haruna Matsumoto (JPN; 85.50), Jiayu Liu (CHN; 85.00) and Arielle Gold (USA; 84.50) who have all a well-deserved claim for a podium finish.

The men's qualifier's are scheduled for Friday morning.

Finals will be aired live on Eurosport 2, Teledelporte, SFR Sport 3 and on cbcsports.ca.