2021/22 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup season preview
Dec 06, 2021·Freeski Park & Pipe
After a Covid-19-shortened season in 2020/21 that saw only one halfpipe World Cup competition take place and therefor no crystal globes awarded, we’re back this season with four competitions at three experienced venues, with all four competitions taking place in North America and all going down in the lead-up to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in February.
First up is the week in Copper Mountain (USA), from December 8-10, which will be the last FIS Freeski competition before the holiday break. However, we’ll be right back at it after Christmas for a pair of competitions in Calgary (CAN), first on December 30th and then with a special New Years Day event on January 1st. Finally, we’ll wrap up this season’s halfpipe World Cup and award the crystal globes on January 7th in Mammoth Mountain (USA).
Will Sildaru and Gu rise to occasion in Olympic season?
The last time we had a full World Cup season it was Valeriya Demidova (RUS) becoming the first-ever Russian crystal globe winner in one of the three FIS Freeski events by taking top spot on the women’s side, above Rachel Karker (CAN) and Zhang Kexin (CHN).
While the 2019/20 top three should be expected to be in the mix once again come finals time in this season’s four events - Karker won the lone World Cup competition of last season and also claimed world champs silver - there’s a possibility we see three completely different names battling for top spot this season.
That’s because this winter we’re expecting to see a lot more of Utah 2019 World Champion Kelly Sildaru and Aspen 2021 World Champion Eileen Gu - two of the most well-rounded freeskiers on the planet and the pair that many have pencilled in as favourites to earn medals in all three Freeski competitions at the Beijing 2022 Games.
Sildaru hasn’t dropped in on a major international halfpipe competition since she took the win at the 2020 X Games, and the last FIS event she entered was the above-mentioned World Championships in 2018/19. However, she has also never missed the podium in a major international halfpipe competition, and if she’s kept up with her training at all that trend seems likely to continue.
Gu, meanwhile, claimed the win at last season’s X Games just before going on to win world champs gold in Aspen, and she has podiums in two of three World Cup halfpipe competitions she’s entered in her career. Like Sildaru, Gu has podiums in all three X Games Freeski events.
However, Gu has Sildaru trumped when it comes to World Championships action, as the Chinese skier has also claimed world champs podiums in all three Freeski competitions after her historic performance in Aspen last season.
Any way you slice it the pair are on a collision course for a historic face-off at Beijing 2022. To call the battle between the two teenage phenoms this season “must watch” is probably an understatement.
The wildcard this season will be reigning Olympic gold medallist Cassie Sharpe of Canada. A two time World Championships medallist, two time halfpipe crystal globe winner, and currently tied with Andri Ragettli (SUI) as the winningest freeskier in FIS World Cup history, Sharpe has been through injury hell over the past two seasons, with only one World Cup start to her name in that time.
If Sharpe is healthy to start this season she most definitely has the skills to give Gu and Sildaru their toughest competition. If she’s not feeling 100%, however, it’s shaping up to be a two-horse race for halfpipe supremacy.
Others to watch out for this season on the women’s side include Zoe Atkin, who claimed Aspen 2021 World Championships bronze and took second in the Aspen World Cup, as well as US veteran and PyeongChang 2018 Olympic bronze medallist Brita Sigourney and her US teammates.
Porteous may be the one to beat in tough men’s field
For the men in 2019/20 it was two-time World Champion Aaron Blunck capturing the first crystal globe of his career when he outlasted Noah Bowman (CAN) in one of the most hotly-contested title battles we’ve ever seen. Third place on the halfpipe overall podium went to Blunck’s compatriot Birk Irving.
While Blunck finished a somewhat disappointing fifth in Aspen 2021 world champs action last season, he did follow that up by claiming the win in the lone World Cup competition of the winter at the same venue. Blunck remains one of the most consistent and talented skiers in the halfpipe world, having hit the podium in six of his last eight World Cup competitions, and should be counted on to be pushing for a top-3 in every event this season.
Speaking of consistency, Blunck’s friendly rival Bowman has only missed one World Cup final since the 2017/18 season, with seven podiums in that time. Like Blunck, you can expect Bowman to be in the finals mix throughout this season’s competitions.
However, the one skier everybody else in the men’s field is likely to be looking up to is New Zealand’s Nico Porteous, after the 20-year-old dropped in his first FIS competition since the 2018/19 season at least winter’s Aspen 2021 World Championships and walked away with the gold medal in a outstanding performance.
Porteous stomped back-to-back 1620s in his run - the first time the combo had ever been completed in a FIS competition - and if the rest of the field hasn’t caught up to his level he could be as close to a top-of-the-podium lock as one could imagine at this season’s competitions.
Others to watch out for on the men’s side throughout this season include Hunter Hess of the USA - who very nearly stomped a triple cork in training camp action last spring - as well as his US teammates like two-time reigning Olympic gold medallist David Wise, PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist Alex Ferreira and Lyman Currier.
Beyond Bowman, the Canadian contingent can expect Aspen 2021 silver medallist Simon D’Artois and Brendan McKay to be pushing the envelop this season, while veterans like France’s Kevin Rolland and Great Britain’s Gus Kenworthy will be looking to recapture a little of their former glory before what may be their last Olympic appearances this February in China.
With all of the above being said, there’s been so little in the way of halfpipe competitions in the past two seasons that there’s every possibility we see some relatively unknown athletes drop in and surprise the field.
The future is unwritten, and we can’t wait to see how it all pans out in the coming weeks.
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