Slopestyle World Cup season finale up next at Mammoth
Mar 07, 2019·Snowboard Park & Pipe
After several days of the sort of heavy snowfall that makes the Mammoth Lakes area famous while also making any sort of competition action essentially impossible, athletes, organizers and officials are looking forward to finally getting down to business at the Mammoth Mountain slopestyle World Cup finals on Thursday, where clearing weather should allow qualification runs to take place with the men beginning at 12:00 PST, followed by the ladies at 15:00. Finals are currently scheduled for Saturday.
Mammoth has had another outstanding snowfall year, and all that white stuff has provided the crew on hand with plenty of material to put together the sort of top-level course expected of the legendary resort - including a unique take on the recently popular quarterpipe/side-hit-to-tabletop jump design that has to been seen to be believed.
The 2018/19 ladies’ slopestyle World Cup standings are currently lead by Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN) with 2,000 points. After finishing second overall last season, Onitsuka looks to be ensured of one-upping that finish from a year ago and taking home this season’s slopestyle crystal globe, as none of the riders ranked 2-7 behind her are expected to be on hand for this week’s action in Mammoth.
However, that’s not to say that the victory in Mammoth is assured to the 20-year-old Onitsuka, as several riders both experienced and up-and-coming who have shown some strong riding this season will be looking for podium spots to finish the World Cup season off on a high.
Swiss duo Carla Somaini and Lia-Mara Boesch will be representing the more experienced side of the field, while the likes of China’s Li Dongyu, Sommer Gendron and Jasmine Baird of Canada, and the USA’s own Jade Thurgood are just a few of the young guns to watch out for this week.
The start list for this week’s men’s slopestyle action at Mammoth is looking deep and exciting, with a good mix of some of the world’s top names on hand and a huge collection of next-wave riders who have been showing at various points this season that the future of snowboarding is, as always, looking to bang down the door.
Firstly, however, is the man who stands alongside the very best in the world at the top of slopestyle snowboarding - and who currently owns top spot on the 2018/19 slopestyle World Cup leaderboard - Chris Corning (USA).
With 1,800 points so far this season, Corning is currently the favourite to claim his second-straight and third career slopestyle World Cup title, and coming off something of a disappointing 22nd-place result at last weekend’s Burton Open, the 19-year-old should be hungry for a little redemption at Mammoth.
Corning will want to be on top of his game this weekend, however, as several of his closest rivals on the standings will be in attendance and looking to knock him off his throne.
Closest to Corning in points is his US countryman Lyon Farrell, who holds 1,610 points and comes into Mammoth fresh off a sixth-place finish at the Burton Open and a runner-up result at the last slopestyle World Cup in Seiser Alm (ITA).
Further down the list, Kreischberg 2015 world champion Ryan Stassel is still very much in the game with 1,300 points, while Hiroaki Kunitake (PN), Niek van der Velden (NDL), Nicolas Huber (SUI), Judd Henkes (USA), and Sean Fitzsimons (USA) are all still mathematically within striking distance of top spot.
However, that list doesn’t include all the other potential podium threats who aren’t in contention for this season’s globe, including PyeongChang 2018 Olympic gold medallist and last week’s Burton Open winner Red Gerard (USA), Fridtjof Tischendorf (NOR), Clemens Millauer (AUT), Yuri Okubo (JPN), Seppe Smits (BEL), and a host of others.
Any way you slice it, it’s shaping up to be a fun weekend to watch in Mammoth Mountain, especially if the decent weather window we see shaping up materializes.
WATCH FINALS LIVE:
Eurosport 2, Eurosport Player, NBC Sports Gold, Eurosport 1 Asia/Pacific, CBC Sport Streaming, Yle Areena
QUICK LINKS:
Mammoth data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
Photos (coming soon)
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