Battle of the best as snowboarders chase World Cup glory on Aspen halfpipe

The fourth halfpipe event of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season is shaping up to be a showdown between the world’s best at the U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen this weekend.

Snowboarders from the USA will be keen to make the most of their home snow advantage, with almost a third of the women’s field of 34 riders from the United States, led by Maddie Mastro and Chloe Kim.

Mastro claimed second place behind Kim at the Laax Open earlier in January, before the two 24-year-olds repeated that one-two performance at the 2025 X Games here in Aspen over the weekend. 

However, it’s Mastro who currently leads the women’s World Cup halfpipe standings, and her Laax performance earned her high praise from judges and competitors alike when she became the first woman in halfpipe competition history to stomp two double inverts in one run, as well as the first woman in competition history to put down the frontside double cork 1080.

Mastro also started the halfpipe season strongly by claiming victory at Secret Garden (CHN) in December, then finished sixth at Copper Mountain (USA) just before the Christmas holidays.

Trailing Mastro’s 220 points is Japanese teenager Sara Shimizu on 181 points. At just 15 years old, Shimizu claimed victory at Copper  ahead of all-time FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe podium record holder Cai Xuetong (CHN). The 31-year-old Chinese rider comes to Aspen with 33 World Cup podiums to her name and is currently ranked third behind Shimizu.

Shimizu is joined in Aspen by Japanese compatriot and two-time Crystal Globe winner Mitsuki Ono (JPN), who narrowly missed the podium at Laax with a fourth place finish. The 20-year-old also finished fourth at Secret Garden in December before claiming third place at Copper behind runner-up Cai.

Ono is currently ranked fourth in the halfpipe standings, one spot ahead of Chloe Kim who will be buoyed by her recent high-scoring win from the Laax Open.

The win marked Kim’s fifth Laax title, and the 24-year-old claimed victory after judges awarded her 96.50 — the highest-scored run of the night — after Kim made history by becoming the first woman in snowboard halfpipe competition to stomp a switch frontside double cork 1080.

Other names to watch in the women’s field include 30-year-old Maddy Schaffrick (USA) and up-and-comer Gaon Choi (KOR), who finished third at Laax. Schaffrick did not qualify for the final in Laax but her return to the World Cup tour this season after nearly a decade away has already yielded a third place finish at Secret Garden.

Sixteen-year-old Choi’s third place at Laax is her second World Cup podium after the teenager won her halfpipe World Cup debut at Copper in 2023 at age 15.

In the men’s field of 43 snowboarders, 12 are from the USA, but Japanese riders make up five of the top six halfpipe World Cup standings.

Australian Scotty James and Japan’s Yuto Totsuka are currently tied in first place on 230 points, with 30-year-old James claiming victory in Laax while Totsuka finished fourth. Totsuka and James have each claimed one victory, one second-place finish, and a fourth-place finish this season thus far.

In Laax James took the win ahead of runner-up Ruka Hirano (JPN) and reigning Olympic Winter Games halfpipe champion Ayumu Hirano (JPN). James followed up his Laax victory with a win at last weekend’s X Games, where he took top spot ahead of runner-up Totsuka and third place Hirano.

Ayumu’s third place finish in Laax is his second podium of the season after leading a high-scoring Japanese podium sweep at Copper Mountain with a score of 97.00, followed by Totsuka’s runner-up score of  94.75, and Ruka Hirano’s 92.75 in third place.

The U.S. field of 12 men includes Chase Josey, who finished seventh at Laax, three spots ahead of compatriot Alessandro Barbieri in 10th place.

Eighteen-year-old Campbell Melville Ives (NZL) is another snowboarder to watch in Aspen. The New Zealander finished sixth in Laax, eighth in Secret Garden, and narrowly missed out on a slopestyle podium in Cardrona in September with fourth place.

The snowboard halfpipe competition will begin with women’s qualifications at 9:00 Mountain Standard Time (MST) on Thursday 30 January, followed by the men’s qualifications at 11:00.

The top eight from the women’s qualifications will progress to the final, with the top 10 men progressing to the final. The finals will begin at 13:00 on Saturday 1 February.