With the Aspen 2021 FIS Snowboard World Championships only just finished up on Tuesday, we are right back into the thick it from today till the end of the weekend with FIS Snowboard World Cup slopestyle and halfpipe action at the Land Rover US Grand Prix.
Competition at this week’s World Cups will be going down on the same Aspen Buttermilk slopestyle and halfpipe venues that have hosted the past seven days at the World Champs, and while most of the same faces from world champs are sticking around for this week’s competitions, they’ll be joined by a fresh crop of riders who are able to take advantage of the longer World Cup start lists and who are hungry to make an impact with just two weekends of competition left in the 2020/21 season.
Halfpipe Qualifications went down this morning and it was the World Champ himself Yuto Totsuka who won Qualifications with a 94.25. Shaun White is back in town and ain’t showing any signs of slowing down…even though this was his first comp back in the pipe in three years! Shaun qualified second with a 91.50 followed by David Habluetzel in third.
Where’s Scotty James? He’s not competing in the World Cup comp this week. Fellow Aussie, Valentino Guseli however competed in the Halfpipe Qualifications today but did not unfortunately qualify.
In the females, yes…it was World Champ Chloe Kim who took out the top spot with a 93.25, followed by Queralt Castellet with a 91.50 and Maddie Mastro with a 86.50.
Aussie Emily Arthur just missed on on qualifying for finals, coming in at 12th spot with a 60.00.
Below are the riders who are competing in the finals over the weekend:
Yuto Totsuka, Shaun White, David Habluetzel, Andre Hoeflich, Taylor Gold, Jan Scherrer, Raibu Katayama, Chase Blackwell, Lucas Foster and Ikko Anai.
Chloe Kim, Queralt Castellet, Maddie Mastro, Sena Tomita, Haruna Matsumoto, Imai Kurumi, Elizabeth Hosking, Mitsuki Ono
For the men’s slopestyle competition, it’s once again shaping up to be the kind of overwhelmingly heavy field we see when things get down to brass tacks in an Olympic qualification year, as just about everybody who was on hand for the World Championships and then some will be dropping back in on the Buttermilk course for World Cup competitions this week.
Canada will be rolling in hot with Aspen 2021 gold and silver medallists Mark McMorris and Max Parrot (respectively), not mention Sebastien Toutant, while Norway’s Marcus Kleveland and Staale Sandbech, Sven Thorgren and Niklas Mattsson of Sweden, Ruki Tobita and Takeru Otsuka of Japan, a heavy US team featuring Red Gerard, Dusty Henrickson, Chris Corning and Judd Henkes, Italians Emiliano Lauzi and Emil Zulian…the list goes on and on in the men’s field.
It’s all shaping up to be heated competition and unpredictable, and should make for must-watch viewing come finals time. Make sure to check back on this story in the coming days or stay tuned to our social media channels as we await final livestream information.
