Everyone stops talking when Olympic champ Chloe Kim is announced as the next rider, and for good reason.
She dominated the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix Halfpipe event, storming to the lead with a run scored at 90.00 in the first round and then improved to 92.25 in round two to seal her sixth career World Cup victory.
“I think a lot of people struggled in this pipe, it was kind of hard to get speed,” said Kim. “I feel like amplitude is always the main thing for me, so I was thinking about a run that would let me have consistent amplitude. I’m really happy to start the season off on a high note and It’s great to be sharing the podium with my teammate, go Team USA!”
How good is Kim? In 10 career World Cup starts, the 18-year-old owns six wins, two silvers and two fourths!
Maddie Mastro of the U.S. waited until the final round to pop a quality run and scored 85.00 to claim silver over China’s Xuetong Cai (77.75).
The U.S. also won two medals in the men’s Halfpipe, and it looked like Toby Miller was going to be the winner, based on his 94.00 score in the second round to move ahead of Australia’s Scotty James (90.00). But James exploded in the final round with a winning run scored at 96.75, and Chase Josey of the U.S. moved into third with another excellent run, scored at 90.50.
Miller, the 2018 World Junior Champion, said “I surprised myself and I am so happy. I landed my first run and it was the first time I had ever put that combination of tricks down. Coming into run two I felt a lot more confident and I kept my foot on the gas pedal. I didn’t do that run in practice at all, so the first run was the first time I ever completed it successfully. I couldn’t be happier.”
Said Josey, “The level of riding just blasted through the roof compared to last year at Copper. saw it starting to happen after the Olympics at the last competition of the season and into the summer camps and fall camps. I was watching all these 1260s and 1440’s go down and quickly realized no one was chilling this offseason and everyone was fired up and wanting to win. I’m psyched to see people so stoked on snowboarding.” Summaries:
FIS Snowboard World Cup
Copper Mountain, Colorado (USA) ~ 6-8 December 2018
(Full results here)
Men’s Halfpipe: 1. Scotty James (AUS), 96.75; 2. Toby Miller (USA), 94.00; 3. Chase Josey (USA), 90.50; 4. Patrick Burgener (SUI), 89.25; 5. Ikko Anai (JPN), 86.00. Also: 8. Jake Pates (USA), 47.00.
Women’s Halfpipe: 1. Chloe Kim (USA), 92.25; 2. Maddie Mastro (USA), 85.00; 3. Xuetong Cai (CHN), 77.75; 4. Kurumi Imai (JPN), 77.25; 5. Arielle Gold (USA), 68.00.
