GU wins freeski halfpipe – PORTEOUS grabs second
Gu wins freeski halfpipe at Copper Mountain as Porteous grabs second
Eileen Gu maintained her excellent start to the 2021/2022 FIS World Cup season with a freeski halfpipe win at Copper Mountain as Nico Porteous, Eva Samková, Queralt Castellet and Fanny Smith all earned podium places in their respective winter sport events.
Gu, 18, came into the Copper Mountain stop fresh off a big air victory at Steamboat last weekend and she did just enough to edge out Canadian Rachael Karker by 0.5 of a point with Estonian Kelly Sildaru third.
Gu’s second victory of the season puts her level with Switzerland’s Sarah Hoefflin at the top of the FIS World Cup overall park & pipe standings heading into the next Calgary halfpipe stop on December 30.
In Friday’s men’s freeski halfpipe, Kiwi Porteous just missed out on victory when he banked a 92.25 score compared to winner American Alex Ferreira’s 93.50 with Canadian Brendan Mackay third.
In Saturday’s Mixed Snowboard Cross Team event at Montafon, Samková helped the Czech Republic to second place alongside Jan Kubicik while at Copper Mountain Spain’s Castellet earned a podium spot with third in the halfpipe behind Xuetong Cai and Japan’s Sina Tomita.
In Sunday’s women’s ski cross at Val Thorens, Switzerland’s Smith had to settle for second place behind Sandra Naeslund and now lies 114 points behind the Swede in the overall standings.
