Jack Spiegel
Audio By Carbonatix
Now being served at Copper Mountain: beef carpaccio, chicken salad and fresh fish. But those aren’t new dishes at Downhill Dukes. They’re names of tricks you can see performed by skiers and snowboarders at this week’s World Cup Halfpipe Grand Prix at Copper.
Viewable for free just ninety minutes from Denver (not counting that dreaded ski traffic), spectators can watch some of the world’s greatest winter sports athletes. On the skiing side, Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu of China and silver medalist (and Aspen native) Alex Ferreria will both be competing. In snowboarding, multi-time Olympic gold medalist for the United States, Chloe Kim, and Australia’s three-time world champion, Scotty James, will also vie for additional World Cup wins.
On Wednesday, December 18, Kim and James scored in the top five of their qualifying heats and will compete in snowboarding finals on Friday, December 20. Skiing qualifiers will take place today, December 19, with finals on Saturday, December 21.
See photos of Wednesday’s snowboarding action below:
Orion Casas performs a Japan as he makes his way down Copper’s 550-foot-long superpipe.
Jack Spiegel
Chloe Kim, the youngest woman to ever win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal, in the 2018 Olympics, makes her way down the superpipe as about 100 people look on.
Jack Spiegel
The walls of Copper’s Superpipe are 70 feet wide and 22 feet tall on either side.
Jack Spiegel
Riders are scored based on height, difficulty, variety, execution and progression. Here, Orion Casas does a tailgrab.
Jack Spiegel
Emily Arthur performs the method in one of her early runs Wednesday.
Jack Spiegel
Ryusei Yamada does a 540-degree crippler on his last run of the day.
Jack Spiegel
Japan’s Ryusei Yamada celebrates after scoring an 83.33 in his second run.
Jack Spiegel
The weather for Wednesday’s snowboarding qualifiers was stellar.
Jack Spiegel
A shocked Maddie Mastro reacts to the crowd after landing an unexpected final trick. Mastro is a two-time Olympian for the United States.
Jack Spiegel
From left: Japan’s Yuto Totsuka, Ryusei Yamada and Ruka Hirano await results at the end of the day. All three would go on to the finals.
Jack Spiegel
There is no lack of sportsmanship among the competitors, even through language barriers. Participants hail from over a dozen different countries.
Jack Spiegel
At fifteen years old, Orion Casas (left) is one of the youngest snowboarders in the competition.
Jack Spiegel
Not every run is a hit…
Jack Spiegel