New tricks and new heights for Secret Garden halfpipe winners Maddie Mastro and Yuto Totsuka
Dec 08, 2024·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
The USA’s Maddie Mastro finally nabbed the first FIS Snowboard World Cup win of her career while Japan’s Yuto Totsuka took the men’s field to new triple cork levels in the halfpipe World Cup season opener at China’s Secret Garden.
Twenty-four-year-old Mastro said the victory on Sunday was particularly sweet after previously finishing within the top three of 15 World Cup events.
The U.S. rider outperformed local star and four-time Olympian Cai Xuetong (CHN), who claimed second place with 86.25, while fellow American Maddy Schaffrick finished third with a score 85.25 in her return to competition after nearly 10 years away from top-level snowboarding. Schaffrick’s third-place performance marked her first World Cup podium 15 years after her first World Cup start in 2009.
Mastro began the day strong with 78.50 in her first run before taking the overall lead with a second-run score of 88.75 that no other woman was able to best.
Her competition-winning second run featured a double crippler on the first hit, followed by a backside 900 Weddle grab, frontside 900 tail, backside 540 Weddle, frontside 720 frontside grab, and a Haakonflip 720 stalefish to finish things off.
The field of eight women in Sunday’s final featured three riders from the USA and three from Japan, including last season’s crystal globe winner Mitsuki Ono who narrowly missed the podium with fourth place.
For the men’s competition it should come as no surprise that Yuto Totsuka, 23, was able to open the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup halfpipe season with a win given he already led the men’s field in terms of World Cup podiums.
However, the way that Totsuka claimed his eighth World Cup victory should be remembered for a long time as he put together what was perhaps the most technically advanced top-to-bottom in World Cup history.
Leading things off with a switch backside double 1260 Weddle, then cab double 1440 Weddle, frontside double 1260 frontside grab, backside double 1260 Weddle, before finishing things off with a massive frontside triple 1440 frontside grab in the last few metres of the Secret Garden pipe.
It was, quite simply, a tour de force, earning Totsuka a score of 95.50 and a resounding victory.
With the win, Totsuka now has a total of 19 top-3s, compared to 16 by Ruka Hirano (JPN) and 16 by Scotty James (AUS).
The 30-year-old Australian took second place behind Totsuka with 88.25. Ryusei Yamada (JPN) finished third on 87.75 for his first career World Cup podium, beating out countryman and Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games champion Ayumu Hirano in fourth place.
Like Totsuka, James also debuted a new trick in Secret Garden, dropping a switch frontside triple cork 1440 on the second hit of his third and final run.
With Totsuka, James and Chaeun Lee (KOR) all debuting triple corks in World Cup competition, and Hirano stomping his signature frontside triple 1440, four different riders put down halfpipe’s pinnacle trick in one final for the first time in snowboard history.
The next halfpipe event of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season is scheduled for 18-20 December at Copper Mountain, USA.
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