Sharpe and Wise dominate the pipe competition in Snowmass

Snowmass (USA) - Finals at the Snowmass halfpipe World Cup took place on Friday in the resort’s 22-foot tall superpipe, with Cassie Sharpe (CAN) claiming top spot in the ladies’ competition while the reigning Olympic champion David Wise (USA) lead a US podium sweep in the men’s event.

After a couple of days of practice and qualifications the halfpipe riders got down to the serious business in the first World Cup following the holiday break, with the first of two final World Cup events going down on US soil before everyone’s attention turns to the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games in a couple of weeks time.

With the official Olympic qualifier period coming to an end on January 21, right after next week’s event at Mammoth Mountain, and all the world’s best athletes on hand ready to throw down hard as they look to secure a spot on their national rosters, it was easy to predict that the newest addition to the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix tour will provide plenty of the best freeski action.

And indeed those who chose to come and hang out at the bottom of the pipe and all the others in front of their TV and computer screens watching the stream from Colorado could not be disappointed, as the Snowmass World Cup event provided exactly what a true freeski fan wants to see in the halfpipe competition - big airs, crazy spins and progressive runs.

Cassie Sharpe dominates the ladies’ event

In the ladies’ competition it was Cassie Sharpe who dominated in Snowmass and clinched her third major win of the season. Sharpe took the lead early on with her first run of 90.60 points and would stay on top for the rest of the competition, before dropping in on an incredible victory lap that would bump her score up 93.20 and put an exclamation point on her win.

Sharpe impressed the judges with her amplitude as well as the difficulty of her tricks, throwing down flawless left, right and switch rotations, with flairs, corks and a massive 1080 to wrap things up on the last hit. All in all Sharpe looked like a main contender for an Olympic gold in Korea, and if she can only hold on to her excellent form for a couple more weeks, it will be pretty hard to stop her from claiming the title in February.

“I’m very excited,” said Sharpe after the competitions. “The pipe was awesome today, the conditions were good and I had a lot of fun. I feel ready for the Games and I think like it’s going to be a really good time.”

Second place on the day went to US native Brita Sigourney, who claimed her first World Cup podium since 2015, while the halfpipe world champion from Sierra Nevada Ayana Onozuka (JPN) rounded out the podium on third.

With the win in Snowmass Sharpe moved into the leader position in the halfpipe World Cup standing with 229 points, with second-overall Zhang Kexin (CHN) holding 209 points and Marie Martinod (FRA) sitting in third with 161 points.

David Wise lead the US podium sweep

Over on the men’s side it was all about the US Freeski Team athletes, who despite the best efforts from Kevin Rolland (FRA), Joel Gisler (SUI) and the Canadian duo of Noah Bowman and Mike Riddle, left no doubt which nation is on top in the halfpipe skiing world right now.

With fully six athletes in the finals and all eager to represent the US flag at the Games in February, it was impossible to spoil the US party on home soil in Snowmass.

While everyone is getting into the Olympic mood, perhaps the leader in that movement is David Wise, as the gold medalist from Sochi made it clear he’s on a mission for a repeat performance in Korea, stomping his first run with some serious amplitude and difficulty, including two unnatural double-corks, for a score of 95.00 points that was enough at the end of the day to grant Wise his second World Cup victory this season and a spot on the US Olympic team.

“I’m on cloud nine,” stated Wise a with a big smile on his face. “I don’t think I started today with a goal of making the Olympic team. I’m trying to stay focus on what I’m doing. I had one of the best practices in my life and I landed my run moments before we started the contest. And I just knew that whether it takes me three tries or not I’m gonna land this run one time and if I land it, it has to do well.”

Wise lead the US podium sweep with Alex Ferreira (USA) and Aaron Blunck (USA) finishing in second and third respectively, with both riders also significantly increasing their chances to wear the US colors in PyeongChang.

“Honestly the level of skiing right now is the highest I’ve ever seen. It’s a huge honour to be out there shredding,” continued Wise after the flower ceremony. “To sweep the podium today with Alex and Aaron it’s just as good as it gets.”

The FIS Freeski World Cup action continues with the slopestyle competition in Snowmass scheduled to take place on Sunday, and more halfpipe action slated to take place next week at Mammoth Mountain.

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