Kim and Hirano dominate Copper Mountain Halfpipe World Cup

Both riders stood out in an event which was blessed with a blue bird sky again after snow fall had made the qualifiers a little bit tricky two days ago.

And given a perfectly shaped pipe, the finals lived up to the expectations with some of the world's finest talents ready to drop in in the three run, best one count final of the best eight female and best ten male qualifiers.

With everyone keeping half an eye on the Olympic qualifier process and the hosting nation competing in its first national Olympic qualifier event, the two hour halfpipe show turned out to deliver a significant proof of the current state of the art and what to expect in three months with none of the competitors holding back.

On the women's side of things, Kim, who already had triumphed in the World Cup Opener in New Zealand three months ago, had set the bar high right in her first run scoring a 93.75 for her backside air to frontside 1080 tail, cab 720 mute, frontside 540 indy and a final mc twist indy.

She therefore sat comfortable in he lead but didn't lean back at all. Au contraire – the only 17-years-old wunderkind tried to up the ante in her second and third run but couldn't land the back-to-back 10s.

But as her top score was cut in stone today, Kim, already the top rider at last year's Copper Mountain Halfpipe World Cup, was able to celebrate her back-to-back win:

“Winning the first national Olympic qualifier event feels awesome. I'm totally speechless. I woke up this morning, and I was like oh my God, I'm so nervous. But the halfpipe makes it kind of feel home and all the nerves go away. Dropping in I'm just excited to trying new stuff.”

And the superpipe in Copper Mountain did also suit her teammates as Maddie Mastro (90.75) and veteran Kelly Clark (83.75) who rounded out the podium as second and third, respectively, therefore completing the same podium as in Cardrona back in September, only with Mastro and Clark changing the roles.

“It's so rad that we all were able to put down very solid runs and make it on the podium. It's always awesome to get an US podium sweep,” added Kim.

Mastro had also tried to slowly step up her game over the course of the competition and was finally able to bring home her career's fourth podium finish thanks to a decent run consisting of a frontside 900 indy to backside 540 stalefish, frontside 720 indy, haakon flip and a frontside 540 seatbelt to finish things off.

“My strategy was to put down a run and have fun with it, and then take it step by step and progress from there. And I'm happy with what I got”, explained Mastro.

Kelly Clark, the highest decorated snowboarder in the world, took some time after the finals to talk about women's snowboarding in general and found some words which pretty much summed it up – the sport in total and today's event:

“In Olympic years we always see a big jump in the progression of the riding. I'm not surprised to see how great all the ladies have been riding today. It's good to get that USA sweep.”

Hirano on top in men's event

While the hosting nation got what it was after, one rider denied a similar outcome in the men's competition.

Ayumu Hirano, like Kim and Mastro another teen halfpipe sensation who had taken Silver at the Sochi Olympic Winter Games, hampered an all American day.

Already in the lead after run one, the 19-year-old from Murakami switched into beast mode nailing a run which could be a must-have for those riders who aim for an Olympic medal in PyeongChang next year.

After an huge backside indy as opener Ayumu launched a frontside 1440 indy into a cab double cork 1080 mute to frontside 1260 indy and a final backside 900 melon which gave the judges no other opportunity then scoring a 95.25.

Leaving some space to that perfect 100 wasn't a bad idea at all as Ayumu still had something more in store trying to spice up his run by replacing the cab double 1080 with a cab double 1440 but couldn't land the difficult combo.

Nevertheless, he walked away with the win edging off Ben Ferguson (USA; 89.75) and Shaun White (USA; 89.25) to second and third, respectively.

Both riders had also delivered the proof that they have to got what it takes to attack the top seat.

While Ferguson got pretty creative with his cab double cork 1080 mute to double crippler indy, backside 360 stalefish, switch mc twist and switch double backflip to regular, White tried to up the ante with going all in on the spin side of things.

The two-time Olympic champion stomped a backside air to frontside 1440 tail, cab double 1080 stalefish, frontside 540 stalefish and the trick he had invented, the tomahawk but couldn't impress the judges enough to knock off Hirano from number one.

“Obviously I wanted to post a better score for the Americans. I wanted to lock in a good score in my first run which allowed me to go a little harder in my second and third run. I really thought that I was going to bump up my score in my third run with the 14, double ten and a double 12, so I'm a little bis disappointed,” he said.

White might have been “a little bit confused” after his run but will definitely come back, most likely even stronger.

The Snowboard Freestyle World Cup tour continues tomorrow with this season's fourth and last big air competition prior to the discipline's Olympic debut next February (Finals at 11 AM LOC, 7 PM CET).

The next Halfpipe World Cup is slated to take place in Secret Garden, China (DEC 19 – 21).