Liu and James triumph in Secret Garden halfpipe thriller
Dec 22, 2019·Snowboard Park & Pipe
The final competition of a huge weekend for FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe took to the perfectly-cut superpipe at China’s Genting Secret Garden resort, where an outstanding field of riders, lead by China’s Liu Jiayu and Scotty James of Australia, paid no mind to the falling snow and occasional wind gust to send us into the holiday break with a competition to remember.
Though an unlucky weather pattern saw the freeskiers on hand in Secret Garden blessed with sun on their qualification and training days, while snow seemed to be falling every time the snowboarders dropped into the pipe, the level of riding throughout the week was incredibly high, and the venue that is set to host the 2021 world championships and the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games competition revealed itself to be more than up to the task.
Liu back on top after sitting out 2018/19 season
Liu became the first Chinese athlete ever to win an Olympic snowboard medal with her silver-medal performance at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, and following her history-making performance in Korea she sat out the 2018/19 competition season.
Now back in the competition fold, Liu has shown no rust so far in 2019/20, earning a runner-up last week in Copper Mountain (USA), before her starring turn in Secret Garden on Sunday in which she earned a score of 90.80 for her standout second run.
“I’m feeling pretty stoked,” Liu said after awards, “First because it’s awesome for me to win in China. I’m Chinese, and Secret Garden is kind of my home resort, and this competition is in the Olympic pipe. For me to win in China, I’m super happy. The pipe here is really good, and the wind is pretty steady so it doesn’t really matter too much.”
With the win, Liu would take the World Cup leader’s bib from Queralt Castellet (ESP), who failed to advance to finals in Secret Garden this weekend.
Second place went to last season’s halfpipe crystal globe winner Cai Xuetong, who got over the struggles she seemed to experience early in the day to put down a storming final run that very nearly upset her compatriot Liu, finishing with a score of 89.20 and her first podium of the season.
In the third place was the rider who very nearly made herself the talk of the snowboard world once again on Sunday, as Maddie Mastro stomped her final run of the day for a score of 86.60.
Mastro became the first woman ever to land a double invert in competition when she stomped a double crippler at the US Open last season, and in her first two runs on Sunday she was looking to become the first to land the trick in World Cup competition. However, after two unsuccessful attempts, she scaled back her final run to single crippler and walked away with her second-straight third place finish of the season.
James out-duels Japanese challengers and challenging weather
In men’s competition the eventual winner Scotty James found himself in an unfamiliar position after the first run, sitting in second place behind Japan’s Ruka Hirano after a hand-drag on the final hit of his run cost him some points.
Despite rising winds and falling snow, James - in his trademark red boxing gloves - came out swinging in his second run, upping his difficulty while stomping every trick flawlessly to earn a near-perfect score of 97.80.
Sitting in third ahead of his final run, Yuto Totsuka responded to James’ run in kind, increasing his score by 5.4 points from his first to his third attempts in a heroic effort, but one that would still leave him just short of James with a score of 95.80 points.
“I’m very happy to come away with the win in my first trip to China,” said James, “To start it off here with really good energy and a win is a good way to spend my first visit here. We dealt with some pretty tough weather, a lot of snow, and then the Japanese guys riding so well today really brought the fight to me, so I had to bring my A-game. It was an awesome day.”
Still just 18-years-old, the two-time crystal globe winner Totsuka has now finished second to James in both competitions this season, as well as at the Utah 2019 world championships last year, and he had just one word when caught for a moment after hearing the final results: “Frustrating.”
Totsuka’s 17-year-old compatriot Hirano would finish in third, as the men’s podium from the season-opener in Copper repeated itself.
As you would expect, James controls the yellow leaders bib with a perfect 2000 points, followed by Totsuka and Hirano.
Up next in the new year for the women and men of the halfpipe World Cup will be the Laax Open, going down from January 13-18, 2020.
TRICK LIST - WOMEN:
Liu - switch backside air, Haakonflip 720 mute, frontside 540 stalefish, backside 540 mute, frontside 720 stalefish
Cai - fronstside 540 melon, backside 540 mute, air-to-fakie melon, cab 720 stalefish, frontside 900 mute, backside air
Mastro - backside air, frontside 540 stalefish, backside 540 mute, frontside 720 frontside grab, Haakonflip 720 stalefish, crippler
TRICK LIST - MEN:
James - frontside double cork 1260 stalefish, backside double cork 1260 mute, frontside 1080 tail, switch frontside 900 melon, switch backside double cork 1260 mute
Totsuka - frontside double cork 1440 frontside grab, cab double cork 1080 mute, frontside 1080 frontside grab, switch frontside 1080 nose to tail, frontside double cork 1260 frontside grab
Hirano - frontside 900 tail, backside 900 mute, frontside double cork 1440 frontside grab, cab double cork 1080 indy, frontside double 1260 frontside grab
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