Utah 2019: halfpipe preview
Feb 06, 2019·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Park City (USA) - Weather permitting, snowboard competition at the Utah 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski is set to move to the halfpipe in the coming days, with the two-run qualifications slated to take place on Wednesday, February 6th, beginning with the ladies at 12:00, followed by the men at 14:00. World championships halfpipe finals are scheduled for Friday, beginning at 11:00.
The weather in Park City has played havoc with the programme at Utah 2019 world champs, as the biggest winter storm of the year has settled over the region, forcing the cancellation of the big air competition and the rescheduling of freeski slopestyle. Still, with one of the best pipes in the world on hand at Park City Mountain and a team of organizers, course workers, and volunteers dedicated to having a successful world championships competition, hopes are high that Wedensday’s qualifiers will go off as smoothly as possible.
The top of the ladies’ contenders list at Park City is owned by the host American squad, with 18-year-old Chloe Kim proving herself the most dominant halfpipe in the world in the past couple of seasons. With Olympic, X Games, and Dew Tour wins to her credit in the past 12 months, Kim needs only to take world champs gold to complete what just might be the rarest ‘grand slam’ in snow sports. And, throw in Kim’s strong US teammates Arielle Gold and Maddie Mastro, and you’ve got the very real potential for a US sweep in Park City.
However, a number of international riders will have something to say about that, including two-time reigning world champion (and current leader of the World Cup standings) Cai Xuetong of China. Queralt Castellet of Spain has been riding exceptionally well once again this season, while Japan’s Kurumi Imai and Hikaru Oe, and Switzerland’s Verena Rohrer all also have a shot the podium this week.
In the men’s competition one rider towers above the others, and that man is Scotty James of Australia. Along with his bronze medal win at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, James (like Cai in the ladies’ category) is the two-time reigning world champion, and currently sits atop the World Cup standings thus far in 2018/19. James has won every competition he’s entered this season, and if he’s on his game in Park City he’ll be tough to beat once again.
A strong field will be on hand looking to do just that, however, highlighted by a Japanese team that has three riders in the top five in Yuto Totsuka, Ruka Hirano, and Ikko Anai. Then there’s the always-impressive Swiss team, featuring the likes of Jan Scherrer, Iouri Podladtchikov, and Patrick Burgener, and of course the host US squad, boasting Jakes Pates, Chase Josey, and Toby Miller amongst its top riders.
QUICK LINKS:
Utah 2019 data page (live scoring, start lists, results)
TV Broadcast info (coming soon)
