Sweet success in Secret Garden for Cai and James
Dec 08, 2023·Snowboard Park & Pipe
The 2023/24 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup hit the ground running on Friday, where finals at the near-perfect pipe of the former Beijing 2022 Olympic venue in Secret Garden (CHN) saw Cai Xuetong (CHN) and Scotty James emerge victorious after a heavy day of top-tier shredding in what is athlete feedback suggests is one of the best halfpipe ever built anywhere, ever.
CAI EARNS REDEMPTION AT SITE OF OLYMPIC HEARTBREAK
Last time Cai Xuetong was in Secret Garden was at those Olympic Winter Games, where the greatest Chinese halfpipe snowboarder of all time ended up just off the podium with a heartbreaking fourth place finish.
On Friday the reigning World Champion had a score to settle with her home country venue, and settle that score she did, with aplomb.
Already leading heading into the third and final run of the day, Cai took things up a notch with her last attempt, leading things off with a massive frontside 900 frontside grab, into backside 540 Weddle, then a big air-to-fakie Weddle, a clean cab 720 Weddle and finally an outrageously stylish alley-oop backside rodeo 540 Weddle to finish things off, riding out to a score of 93.25 and the 14th victory of her illustrious World Cup career.
“I really enjoyed riding today,” Cai said after the awards ceremony, “Getting a win in China is really emotional, but also really fun. I really liked the pipe. Ally (Zehetner, pipe shaper) did a really good job. I’m super stoked.”
Giving the Chinese crowd on hand a little extra to celebrate was a second place result for Liu Jaiyu, a rider many thought had perhaps retired from competition following Beijing 2022. However, this week the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic silver medallist was back in the bib for the first time in almost two years and riding like she hadn’t missed a beat.
With a second run that saw her lead off with a switch backside 540 Weddle, into a Haakonflip 720 Weddle, then a frontside 900 with a missed grab, a backside 540 Weddle, and finally a frontside 720 stalefish to finish things off for a score of 85.75 and her 24th career podium.
Third place on the day was the USA’s Maddie Mastro, who’s first run would end up holding a place on the podium from start to finish. Leading off with a frontside 540 stalefish, Mastro would then go backside 540 Weddle, frontside 720 frontside grab, Haakonflip 720 melon, then her signature double crippler stomped to perfection, before finishing off with a nice backside air for a 85.50 - just .25 points back of Liu.
JAMES DEBUTS NEW TRICK TO TAKE TOP OF THE SECRET GARDEN PODIUM
Over on the men’s side of things the titanic battle forecasted between the Beijing 2022 gold and silver medallists never really panned out, as the reigning Olympic champ Ayumu Hirano of Japan was uncharacteristically inconsistent on the day, failing to land a full-pull run and finishing ninth out of the 10 men in finals.
Still, by sending his frontside triple cork 1440 some six meters above the lip of the pipe and stomping it in run three, Hirano gave the fans in attendance the chance to witness in person perhaps the most impressive trick in all of halfpipe riding right now.
Some of Hirano’s struggles might have come as a result of the gauntlet thrown down by James in his first run of the day, as the 29-year-old Australian continues to evolve, progress and impress even now, 16 years into his international career.
James lead things off in his winning run with the physics-defying new trick that has instantly become his calling card - a switch McTwist Japan bring-back that likely no one but James has ever even attempted.
Landing the McScotty (the McJames? What’s the verdict on this?) clean, James would then roll into a backside double cork 1260 Weddle, then a huge frontside 1440 tail, then a switch frontside 900 melon, and finally a switch backside double cork 1260 Weddle for a score of 91.25 and his eighth career World Cup victory.
“It feels amazing to get the win here today. Feels like a bit of redemption after the Olympics,” James smiled from the bottom of the pipe, “But really it was just about finding the feeling today, regardless of the result. I’m trying to progress my riding in a creative way and bring something new and something different to keep myself excited.
“It’s been really awesome and it was reflected in a good result today, which is really special and cool to see.”
“I’ve been getting some love for the new trick,” James went on, “It takes a lot of time and effort to come up with creative tricks. Progression is obviously subjective. I still think it’s very important to be doing big spins and triples and all those things - that’s definitely progression. But to try to bring a little bit of your own personality into the pipe is important, too, because that’s what snowboarding is.”
Second place behind James with a score of 88.25 would be last season’s halfpipe crystal globe winner Ruka Hirano (JPN), who put down one of his trademark technical top-to-bottoms beginning with a switch backside double 1080 Weddle, into a backside 900 Weddle, then a frontside 1440 frontside grab, to a switch frontside double cork 1440 drunk driver, and finally a frontside double 1260 frontside grab.
Rounding out the men’s podium in third was the men’s Bakuriani 2023 World Champion Chaeun Lee, who grabbed what was in fact his first World Cup podium with an explosive run that began with an insane frontside triple cork 1440 frontside grab, into a switch frontside double cork 1440 frontside grab, then a frontside double 1260 frontside grab, into a backside 900 melon and finally a frontside double 1080 truck driver for a score of 87.50 and another early milestone in what is shaping up to be one heck of a career moving forward.
With Secret Garden in the books we move on next week to Copper Mountain, USA, for the first stop of this season’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix, going down from 13-16 December, 2023.
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