Back-to-back wins for Choi as Yamada claims his first World Cup victory
Dec 19, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Seventeen-year-old Gaon Choi (KOR) overcame windy conditions and flat light in the Copper Mountain halfpipe to secure her second consecutive World Cup victory, while Ryusei Yamada secured his first World Cup victory to lead a one-two podium finish for Japan in the men’s event.
Choi was the only rider in the women’s final on Friday to score above 90 points after recording a second run score of 94.50 when many of her competitors failed to deliver top-to-bottom runs.
The 17-year-old was the top qualifier going into Friday’s final and looked to be in the driver’s seat in run one, but a fall on her final hit frontside 720 frontside grab saw her sitting on a score of 40.50 going into the second and last run.
Choi, however, would have the final say with the last drop of the women’s competition.
Wearing the World Cup overall leader’s jersey, Choi began her last run with a switch backside 900 mute, then a cab 720 stalefish, a frontside 900 melon, a backside 900 stalefish, before putting down the final hit frontside 720 clean to walk away with the victory.
“I just (did) not think (about the pressure), I just think (about) my trick,” Choi said from the finish area after the scores had come in.
Her high score relegated Tomita’s highest score of 88.75 to second place, while 18-year-old Bea Kim (USA) claimed third place on 75.52 in what was a comeback performance after a year off due to injury.
Choi’s victory on Friday follows her season-opening win in Secret Garden last week, and gives her a total of four World Cup podiums from five starts since she made her circuit debut with a victory in Copper at the start of the 2023/24 season.
Tomita’s second-place finish on Friday marks her 11th podium finish after the 26-year-old wrapped up last season by winning the halfpipe finale in Calgary.
China’s Cai Xuetong finished just outside the podium on Friday in fourth place, a week after the 32-year-old began the season in third place in Secret Garden – her 34th career World Cup podium.
Maddy Schaffrick (USA) wrapped up the women’s top five, while teammate Maddie Mastro was sixth.
World Champion and double Olympic champion Chloe Kim (USA) did not start on Friday after falling heavily during practice earlier in the day.
On the men’s side, Japan’s Ryusei Yamada was the second teenager of the day to top his field with an identical score of 94.50 in his second run to claim his career-first World Cup win.
The 19-year-old was sitting in fourth place after scoring 77.50 in the first round before drastically upping the ante in his run two with a double McTwist 1080 Japan on his first hit, followed by a switch McTwist Japan, then a frontside double 1440 mute, before finishing things off with a massive switch backside alley-oop double rodeo 900 stalefish.
Yamada’s high score pushed compatriot Yuto Totsuka’s first run score of 90.50 to second place, while Australia’s Valentino Guseli - also in a comeback performance after a lengthy injury break - was third on 84.75.
After Yamada’s high-scoring run, many eyes momentarily turned to Shuichiro Shigeno (JPN) to see if he could give Japan its second consecutive podium sweep after Secret Garden, but the 20-year-old’s second run score of 81.75 was not enough to overtake Guseli.
Totsuka’s second-place finish extends his record for most podiums in FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe history to 23.
Chase Blackwell (USA) finished fifth on Friday and was the only rider out of six U.S. athletes in the men’s final to score above 70 with his first run score of 79.00.
Last season’s Crystal Globe winner Ruka Hirano (JPN) finished in eighth place, a week after he was runner-up in Secret Garden.
This week’s Copper World Cup marks the second of seven Halfpipe events in the 2025/26 Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup season. The third Halfpipe World Cup will be held in Calgary (CAN) between 31 December and 3 January.
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