Record-setting night at the Snow Rodeo for Gu and Ferreira
Feb 16, 2024·Freeski Park & Pipe
The first night of action at the 2023/24 Calgary Snow Rodeo halfpipe World Cup went down on Thursday evening at Winsport Canada Olympic Park, where the two most dominant forces in halfpipe skiing rose to the occasion once again, as Eileen Gu (CHN) and Alex Ferreira (USA) both put on record-setting performances on their way to victories at the penultimate halfpipe World Cup of the season.
GU TAKES TOP SPOT ON ALL-TIME FIS FREESKI WINS RANKINGS
Gu came into Calgary undefeated at the venue, with a perfect six wins in six starts through her career. On Thursday she added a seventh W in Calgary and in doing so set another new benchmark in a career that is spilling over with them, as she took over top spot on the all-time FIS Freeski victories rankings with her 13th to move one ahead of Tess Ledeux (FRA).
Gu began her record-setting first run on Thursday evening with what is the toughest combo in women’s halfpipe skiing right now - a right corked 900 Buick straight into a left corked 900 Japan - before continuing on with a right 720 lead tail, then a switch left 720 Japan, and then a left alley-oop flat 540 mute, and finally a slick right alley-oop lead tail to finish it all off for a score of 93.25 and the record-setting win.
“Calgary is such a special place for me,” Gu said from the finish area, “To be seven-for-seven here is just insane. This is the place I won my first halfpipe World Cup, and now to set a new World Cup record here with my 13th win is incredible. I’m really grateful to be back here and skiing in front of such an incredible crowd.”
With her third victory of 2023/24 Gu has all but locked up what is almost certain to be her second career halfpipe crystal globe, with 380 and points to put her 95 points up on the next closest competitor with just one event left in the season.
That next closest competitor is Canada’s own Amy Fraser with 285 points, who pulled it together on her third and final run of the evening on Thursday to score a 89.25 and grab her third World Cup podium of 2023/24 - further strengthening her hold on second place on the women’s halfpipe rankings. While she’s still mathematically within reach of Gu, Fraser would need a victory on Saturday combined with Gu pulling out of competition in order to get the crystal globe, and the likelihood of that all coming together seems low indeed.
Rounding out the women’s podium was Zoe Atkin of Great Britain, who earned her third straight third place World Cup result with another stylish effort from start to finish of the competition. With her score of 88.00, Atkin grabbed not only a piece of Thursday night’s Calgary podium, but also jumped up into a tie with Riley Jacobs (USA) for third place on the women’s rankings.
FERREIRA SETS NEW MEN’S BENCHMARK WITH FOURTH STRAIGHT VICTORY
Over on the men’s side of things the USA’s Alex Ferreira kept his historic season rolling, earning a record-setting victory as he became the first man in FIS Freeski World Cup history to put together a streak of four straight halfpipe wins.
Finding himself sitting behind Canada’s Brendan Mackay after the first run, Ferreira headed back to the top of the pipe for run two and dropped in a man on a mission.
Leading things off with a switch left 1080 blunt, Ferreira then went with a huge right double cork 1620 safety, into left 1080 lead tail, and then a switch right double cork 1080 Japan, before finishing things off with another 1620 - this time left side and again with a safety.
Add it all up and you’ve got a score of 96.50, another win for Ferreira, and a perfect 400 points on the year for for the 29-year-old leader of the U.S. team, ensuring him of what will be his second career halfpipe crystal globe when the dust settles on Saturday evening here in Calgary.
“It’s absolutely incredible…now I just want to keep going!” Ferreira laughed from the finish area after learning he had set the new benchmark, “To win four in a row is absolutely unbelievable. When Brendan (Mackay) went in front of me after run one with a such a nice run, by such a great skier and a great friend of mine, I was honestly just excited to see him put that down. There’s a lot of comaraderie in our sport, the sportsmanship is incredible. Everybody is out here rooting for everybody else. I feel huge jubilation just to be a part of this sport.”
Mackay would hold on to second place with a score of 94.25, giving the 26-year-old his first podium since he claimed World Championships gold last season in Bakuriani, making for a rapid return to form for the skier who took the first half of the 2023/24 season off to focus on his studies.
Earning third place on the men’s side with a score of 92.00 was top qualifier Jon Sallinen of Finland, as the 23-year-old returned to the site of his first career World Cup victory (and first career podium) last season to earn his second World Cup top-3.
Action in Calgary continues on Thursday morning with the second qualification session of the week, where the women will be dropping in once again at 9:50 MT, followed by men’s heat one at 11:30, and heat two at 13:35.
The 2023/24 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup season finale will then be going down on Saturday, once again under the lights at 19:00 MT.
Stay tuned to our social channels for where-to-watch and livestream info over the next two days.
QUICK LINKS
Calgary Snow Rodeo halfpipe World Cup data page (start lists, livescoring, results)
