Hosking ‘honored’ by home snow Halfpipe victory in Calgary as Guseli returns to the top
Jan 04, 2026·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Canadian Elizabeth Hosking gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about on Saturday after winning the Calgary Halfpipe World Cup to become the first Canadian woman in two decades to claim a Halfpipe victory on home snow.
Meanwhile, in the men’s final, Australia’s Valentino Guseli topped the field to claim his second career Halfpipe World Cup victory as Japanese riders failed to land on a men’s podium spot for the first time after a record streak of 30 Halfpipe World Cup events.
The women’s final was the first to crown a winner on Saturday night, with Hosking one of three Canadians in the 10-woman final.
The 24-year-old was on top of the leaderboard going into the second run thanks to her first run score of 82.50 which stood the test of time as most of the 10-woman field did not improve on their first attempts.
Top qualifier Wu Shaotong (CHN) was runner-up on 77.25 while Switzerland’s Isabelle Loetscher was third on 76.00.
Hosking began her winning run with a frontside 720 melon, then a Haakon flip 720 mute, a frontside cork 540 frontside grab, a backside 540 mute, and finished things off with a huge frontside 900 melon on her fifth and final hit, carefully keeping her hands from touching the snow to ride away clean and to the top of the podium for the first time in her career.
Hosking’s win on Saturday makes her the first Canadian to top the women’s Halfpipe World Cup podium in over 23 years, since Maelle Ricker won in Valle Nevado (CHI) in September 2002.
“Maelle is a legend in Halfpipe snowboarding and in boardercross – wow,” said Hosking.
For Loetscher, her third-place finish on Saturday breaks a run of 14 Halfpipe World Cup events which did not feature a European rider on the podium in a discipline long dominated by Japanese and U.S. snowboarders.
Before 21-year-old Loetscher claimed her first career World Cup podium in Calgary on Saturday, the last European snowboarder to record a top-three Halfpipe World Cup result was Berenice Wicki (SUI) in February 2023, also in Calgary.
In the men’s event, Australian Valentino Guseli topped the 14-man final in Calgary with a run one score of 87.75 to secure his second career World Cup victory at the same location where he earned his first.
Guseli began his winning run with a backside alley-oop 360 nosegrab, into a cab double cork 1080 mute, then frontside 1260 tailgrab to melon, a backside 720 nosegrab, and finished with a switch backside 900 mute on his final hit.
With victory already in hand as the last snowboarder to drop into the pipe, Guseli then treated the crowd to a victory lap.
“It was the most fun run I’ve had in this pipe all week. I’m happy to end my time in this pipe like that,” he said of his victory go-around.
Switzerland’s David Habluetzel was runner-up on 80.00, earning the first World Cup podium of his career in his 37th start, and in just his third World Cup start since returning from a knee injury suffered at the season opener last winter.
Third place, meanwhile, went to Patrick Burgener, who became the first Brazilian rider to claim a podium spot at a FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup. Burgener, 31, has represented Brazil since the start of this season after switching from the Swiss team in June 2025. The podium was the 10th of Burgener’s career, with all of the previous nine coming while he rode for the Swiss team.
Guseli’s victory on Saturday follows his third-place finish in Copper ahead of the Christmas break. It is also Guseli’s second victory in Calgary after he won the 2024 edition and marks a return to form for the 20-year-old Australian after he suffered a knee injury last season.
The win is also a confidence boost for Guseli ahead of the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games beginning in February.
There are just two more Halfpipe World Cup events in January before the start of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games on 6 February.
The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen (USA) will take place between 7-10 January, followed by the Laax Open between 15-18 January which wraps up one day before the Olympic Quota Allocation List is published on 19 January 2026.
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