Shaun White, Chloe Kim reach Copper Mountain pipe finals as freeski dynamo Stevenson soars

It was a busy 2021 Dew Tour day-two on Copper Mountain as freestyle skiing slopestyle action – weather-delayed from yesterday’s day-one – got going along with a double dose of men’s and women’s snowboard halfpipe events.

• Day-one RECAP | Eileen Gu’s ‘best year’ continues

The Ayumu Hirano show

Japan’s two-time Olympic silver medallist Ayumu Hirano took his seemingly effortless style to a new level in the Copper Mountain superpipe on Thursday, sending a resounding message about his Olympic intentions with back-to-back 1400s to open his first run.

Exuding pure smoothness from top to bottom, Hirano – an Olympic double-threat who also competed in skateboarding’s debut in Tokyo earlier this year – finished the qualifying round with a score of 94.00. It was more than his closest chaser by over six full points.

The qualifying result sees Hirano a firm favourite (along with fellow Japanese top-three finishers Ruka Hirano and Yuto Totsuka) to top the finals on Sunday – and perhaps also to earn the Olympic gold that eluded him at both Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 (he won silver on both occasions, last time behind none other than Shaun White).

While Hirano was on his way up, the iconic White – the defending Olympic champion driven to win his fourth gold medal this February at Beijing 2022 – is still trying to find his top form after several years out of the competitive halfpipe.

White fights for form

And after falling on his first run, the American legend put it together in a big way in his second – a pair of double McTwists giving him a score of 85.75 and pushing him through to the finals in fourth place. Just a week after finishing eighth in his last event (also on Copper Mountain), White’s joy -- and relief -- was on display for all to see.

“Oh man, that just felt amazing," said White, all smiles after his second run. “I really wanted that first run but I came in too hot and messed it up. But that one [second run] really came together and I’m so happy. I was stoked to put it in and see you all at the finals!”

USA favourite Chloe Kim – who became the youngest woman to win an Olympic snowboard gold with the top performance in the women’s halfpipe competition in 2018 – put in a sizzling second qualifying run in the superpipe. But despite a near flawless performance, her 91.25 wasn’t enough to edge USA teammate Maddie Mastro who pulled a 92.75 to end the day with the best score.

The women’s halfpipe finals on Saturday (18 December) should be a high-flying shootout with Kim’s deep bag of tricks and Mastro’s current masterful form.

Chinese rider Xuetong Kai, 2006 Olympian Queralt Castellet of Spain and the Japanese trio of Mitsuki Ono, Ruki Tomita and Sena Tomita will all also be looking for places on the podium in a talented field.

Freeskier Stevenson back from brink and Beijing-bound

American slopestyle freeski specialist Colby Stevenson, still building back from a catastrophic auto wreck in 2016 that left him in a coma and with over 35 cracks in his skull, took another step toward what could be a huge Olympic debut with an outstanding qualifying performance on Thursday.

“In an Olympic year there’s always just a little more high tension out there,” Stevenson, who discovered a “new-found love for the planet and the little things” after his horror crash, told Olympics.com in a recent interview. “So it’s really competitive.”

With his number-two world ranking, earned via outstanding performances in the 2020 X Games and world championships, Stevenson – who missed out on PyeongChang 2018 with a rotator cuff injury – has already met the Olympic qualifying criteria (though U.S. Ski and Snowboarding names its official team next month).

“It’s crazy to win a slopestyle competition,” added the 24-year-old who began his ski life in the more traditional world of nordic combined before the pull to fly high, flip and express himself in a deeper way took over. “You have to have the fluidity, the creativity and the amplitude and you just kind of have to hit all your biggest and best stuff without making any mistakes.”

Stevenson, a silver winner in this year’s slopestyle world championships in Aspen, wasn’t perfect on the day. Even he knows it’s an unattainable marker – something aimed for and never quite achieved. But he was the best of the best on Copper Mountain, with a top score of 89.25 (out of 100) and always keeping the kind of smooth "flowy" style he’s famous for.

Hall chases second straight freeski medal

Fellow American Alex Hall – who finished second with an outrageous 1980 in the recent Big Air competition in Steamboat last week – will join Stevenson in the freestyle skiing slopestyle finals (scheduled for Friday 17 December).

Sweden’s PyeongChang 2018 veteran Oliwer Magnusson, Fabian Boesch and American Nick Goeppner will also be in among the favourites after putting in impressive qualifying performances on Thursday to finish inside the top-ten.

Tomorrow will see the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe finals, with qualifying standout Eileen Gu aiming for gold. The men's and women's freeski slopestyle finals will follow later in the day (the women's field bypassing a qualifying round and with all 16 competitors taking part in a three-run-each event).