Freeski stars Porteous and Gu go huge in Mammoth pipe

The irresistible charge of Eileen Gu toward potential Beijing 2022 super-stardom continued on Saturday with the USA-born and People’s Republic of China-representing skier winning her fourth straight World Cup event on Mammoth Mountain in California.

On the men’s side, New Zealand's Nico Porteous, heading for his second Olympic Games next month, went massive with a pair of back-to-back 1620s to scoop the gold over USA's defending and two-time Olympic champion David Wise.

Gu goes four-for-four

Gu needed only one of her two runs in the superpipe on Mammoth Mountain to lay claim to her fourth straight 2021/22 FIS World Cup freestyle skiing halfpipe gold.

The ultra-talented teenager opened her first run with a pair of towering 900s before tossing in an elegant alley-oop flat spin to knock Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru out of her brief stay in first place with a score of 94.75.

Even though that was enough to win the day, Gu couldn’t resist throwing down big in her victory lap of a second run. She went higher and harder for a gigantic score of 97.50 and a blow-out victory. She also might have given the watching world a preview of her potential gold-medal run in Beijing this February.

"I am absolutely blown away," said the 18-year-old reigning world champion and current runaway FIS world points leader after winning her fourth World Cup gold by a full five points. "97.5 that's the highest score I've ever gotten. I think that's probably one of the best runs I've done in the halfpipe, and I always try to do my best in my victory laps, so I'm just really proud of myself for that."

“And a huge shoutout to all the girls right now," added the three-discipline (slopestyle, big air and halfpipe) star who’s been the only woman to win a freeski halfpipe event this season. "I feel like halfpipe skiing and slopestyle skiing are progressing so fast and I'm just so proud to be apart of it."

Gu, who also won a big air event last year in Steamboat, could well become the first action-sports athlete to win three gold medals at the same Games when competition begins in Beijing on 4 February.

Alongside the all-conquering Gu on the women’s podium in her birth-state of California were Sildaru of Estonia (90.25 - silver), skiing for the first time this season with poles after recovering from a broken hand.

Americans Brita Sigourney (bronze) and Hanna Faulhaber (fourth) both likely wrapped up their places in the USA team headed for Beijing with their impressive performances (though the official American team for Beijing will be announced in the coming days).

“I didn’t want to focus too much (on making the team),” said Sigourney. “I wanted to do my own thing today. It was a great day and great conditions. I'm happy to have skied by best.”

The 17-year-old Faulhaber, who grew up idolising many of her likely USA teammates in Beijing, was thrilled with the result. “The possibility of going to the Olympics with all of these skiers I’ve admired is just amazing,” she said. “It hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Porteous doubles up

The men’s side of the freeski halfpipe final saw Porteous go huge with a pair of back-to-back 1620s to top the podium ahead of USA's Wise (second) and Aaron Blunck (third).

The second-to-last last man to drop in on the second run of a compressed two-run format, Porteous delivered on his ever-present promise in a pinch.

“It feels, really, really, really good," said the Christchurch native after his near-perfect 97.00-point final run. "I've had a bit of a tough season. We've had some tough conditions and finals and haven't really been skiing the way I wanted to, but to put that down is nice icing on the cake for the World Cup season and on to the next two big events."

Second place was sealed by the defending freeski men's halfpipe Olympic champion Wise, who's likely done enough to seal his place in next's month's Games in Beijing.

"I've said it before that I've been skiing better than my results suggest," said the 31-year-old who led the field for most of the day after a high-flying first run. "I've been loving skiing and found my passion again in this last off-season. Today was the first day where I really came out swinging and it's a great, enjoyable day of halfpipe skiing."

"Having to wait to the last event to qualify (for the Olympics) was tough, but I guess it's a pretty good story," Wise added with a smile.