Choi and Hirano on top at Mountain Copper halfpipe
Dec 17, 2023·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Snowboard World Cup action at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix Copper Mountain closed out on Saturday with halfpipe finals, where the phenom Gaon Choi (KOR) made an immediate impact in her World Cup debut by taking the women’s victory, and reigning Olympic gold medallist Ayumu Hirano (JPN) made his first trip to the top of the podium since his Beijing 2022 Olympic triumph in the men’s competition.
Last season’s X Games halfpipe winner at just 14 years of age and the top qualifier from Thursday in the very first competition phase of her World Cup career, Choi rolled into Saturday’s finals with plenty of hype - all of which she ably lived up to.
Choi scored a 92.75 for her standout second run, besting last season’s crystal globe winner Mitsuki Ono of Japan, who finished with a 90.00 for second place, and the USA’s own Maddie Mastro, who ended up in third with a score of 88.25.
It was the first of what is shaping to be many, many World Cup podiums for the now 15-year-old.
With her second straight podium, Mastro would take over the yellow World Cup leader’s bib for the first time in her eight-season World Cup career, with 120 points. Choi, Cai Xuetong (CHN) and Bea Kim (USA) all sit tied for second with 100 points on the season.
On the men’s side of things it was a tense affair throughout the afternoon, with all six of the riders we know to have a halfpipe triple cork in their trick arsenal were on hand in the same final for the first time ever.
However, only one of those riders was able to throw down their triple on Saturday, and that man was Ayumu Hirano, who lead off with a massive triple 1440 on the first of his final run before lacing the rest of it for a score of 91.00 points and his sixth World Cup victory.
Second place behind Hirano was Bakuriani 2023 World Champion Chaeun Lee of Korea, as the 17-year-old earned his second podium in as many competitions this season with a score of 80..00 for his first run.
Lee now has back-to-back podiums to start the season after a third place finish in Secret Garden, and takes over the men’s World Cup lead with 140 points. Scotty James (AUS) and Hirano and tied for second behind Lee with 129 points apiece.
Rounding out the podium in third was Hirano’s Japanese teammate Yuto Totsuka, who put down a strong second run in some tough late-in-the-day conditions for a score of 78.00 and his 17th career World Cup podium.
Also of note was an extremely scary incident during Saturday’s finals when Spain’s Queralt Castellet landed on the pipe’s deck in her second run of the afternoon, bouncing into the flat bottom of the pipe where she lay motionless for an extended period of time. We don’t have any updates on the seriousness of her injuries, but we can confirm that the 34-year-old was conscious and able to move all appendages while the was remover from the Copper Mountain halfpipe finish are.
With Copper now done and dusted we’re looking forward to a little holiday break before the FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe season resumes at the Laax Ope, going down from 17-20 January, 2023.
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