Gu and Ferreira coming in hot to Mammoth Mountain halfpipe
Jan 30, 2024·Freeski Park & Pipe
Another huge weekend of halfpipe and slopestyle action at the Mammoth Mountain Toyota U.S. Grand Prix is upon us, and with a heavy winter storm set to hit Mammoth on Wednesday night through to Friday morning we’re already seeing schedule changes as orgnisers and officials work to ensure a completion of the full competition schedule.
Competition in Mammoth is now set to get underway on Tuesday beginning at 9:25 PST, after halfpipe qualifications have been bumped to from their originally scheduled Wednesday drop-in time. The slopestyle qualification slot is now to be determined, while finals for both competitions remain on schedule, with halfpipe set for Friday and slopestyle on Saturday.
GU LOOKS TO KEEP ANOTHER PERFECT HALFPIPE SEASON ROLLING
Leading the way into Mammoth for the women is, of course, Eileen Gu (CHN), fresh off an X Games win that was locked down despite suffering a heavy crash in slopestyle training that had the 20-year-old superwoman essentially unable to walk in the lead-up to halfpipe finals.
Despite being pretty badly bruised up, Gu was able to step up when it counted there in Aspen, locking down her third X Games gold in a performance that once again illustrated just how far ahead of the field she really is.
While she hasn’t had a lot of rest before arriving here in Mammoth, if she is in fact in good enough health to drop in on this week’s competition, the chances she extends her record halfpipe World Cup win streak to a perfect 10 is pretty high.
While she already holds the FIS Freeski record for most halfpipe World Cup victories, Gu is also chasing down Birk Ruud (NOR) for the most FIS Freeski World Cup wins, period. With 12 career wins to Ruud’s 14, there’s a chance she’s able to reel him in before the end of the 2023/24 season. Chalk it up as just one more record to keep an eye on for the force of nature known as Eileen Gu.
Zoe Atkin (GBR) and Amy Fraser (CAN) followed up Gu in second and third, respectively, at X Games, and both are here in Mammoth looking for a little more top-3 magic. Both Atkin and Fraser have a World Cup third place finish to their names this season, while Atkin also finished in second place her in Mammoth last winter.
Svea Irving (USA), Riley Jacobs (USA), Dillan Glennie (CAN) and Sabrina Cakmakli (GER) are a few of the other names to keep an eye on for the women.
FERREIRA UNSTOPPABLE THUS FAR IN 2023/24
For the men it’s the USA’s own Alex Ferreira coming into Mammoth on an absolute heater, matching his counterpart Gu on the women’s side by winning both halfpipe World Cups so far this season, as well as the big show in Aspen over the weekend. Ferreira is fully locked in for 2023/24, and at 29 years old has positioned himself nicely in his quest for a second career crystal globe.
Ferreira will have to face down the heaviest start list of the World Cup season if he wants to keep his win stream alive however, including Bakuriani 2023 World Champion Brendan Mackay, who’s set to drop in on his first World Cup of the season.
Mackay took the first part of the winter off to pursue some higher learning, but returned to competition with a fifth-place finish at X Games on the weekend. While it’s a tough ask to jump right back into the podium conversation mid-season, with a warm-up in Aspen under his belt there’s a good chance Mackay is already back up to speed for this week in Mammoth.
As with the women, both the second and third place finishers from X are on hand here in Mammoth, with those honours going to reigning Olympic gold medallist Nico Porteous of New Zealand and Hunter Hess of the USA, respectively.
Porteous’ silver in Aspen was a reassuring sign after he took a heavy slam at the World Cup season-opener in Secret Garden and skipped the next World Cup in Copper Mountain (USA). The 22-year-old will be looking to rekindle the magic from his victory here in Mammoth in 2022.
Hess, meanwhile, is having the best season of his career, with podiums in Secret Garden, Copper and X Games to earn his place as a leader on the deep U.S. squad in 2023/24. One of the most infectious personalities on the tour and one of the world’s most exciting halfpipe skiers, Hess will be looking to make it four straight podiums on the season this week.
With David Wise, Aaron Blunck, Nick Goepper and last season’s Mammoth winner Birk Irving also on the Mammoth startlist, the U.S. halfpipe team is the deepest in the world, and a sweep of the podium this week isn’t out of the question.
Finally, keep an eye on Bakuriani 2023 World Championships silver medallist Jon Sallinen (FIN). Sallinen was the top qualifier in both Secret Garden and Copper Mountain, but was unable to find the podium come finals time at either event. It feels like the 23-year-old is knocking on the door of greatness, and the podiums seem certain to start coming fast and furious in the near future.
Where-to-watch and livestream information for Mammoth Mountain will be available closer to finals time. Stay tuned to our social media channels for updates.
QUICK LINKS
Mammoth Mountain data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
