Eileen Gu’s halfpipe is prepared for the Winter X Games.
The 19-year-old freestyle skier gained her second World Cup in Calgary with Canada’s Rachael Karker taking a second silver behind Gu on Saturday night time.
Alex Ferreira and Birk Irving of the United States completed one-two within the males’s occasion with Calgary’s Noah Bowman taking bronze.
The American-born Gu hit worldwide stardom final yr claiming Olympic halfpipe and large air gold medals, and slopestyle silver, for the host Chinese crew in Beijing.
Neither Gu nor Karker scored as excessive as they did Thursday in Calgary in what was Gu’s first competitors in any freestyle self-discipline since Beijing.
But Gu’s 93.50 within the second of three rounds put {the teenager} comfortably within the lead.
All smiles for Eileen Gu who takes dwelling her second gold medal on the Snow Rodeo in Calgary 🥇🥇<br><br>The occasion was her first halfpipe contest again because the Olympics in Beijing <a href=”https://t.co/rcvw8Anpdj”>pic.twitter.com/rcvw8Anpdj</a>
—@CBCOlympics
She will compete in subsequent week’s Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., however did not reply the query of what number of occasions she is going to enter.
“I’m simply blissful to be right here,” Gu stated Saturday. “I imply, there’s a number of strain, however I’m simply studying to cope with it.
“I’m having fun with what I’m doing and I’m having enjoyable and that is what counts.”
Gu was once more in demand for photos and autographs from a crowd of about 500 gathered on the backside of WinSport’s superpipe.
The temperature held simply above freezing in the course of the occasion, with extra breeze on the high of the pipe than Thursday.
Karker’s first-round 85.50 stood up for her eleventh straight World Cup podium courting again to 2019-20.
WATCH | Karker earns 2nd straight silver in Calgary:
Ontario’s Rachael Karker earns silver in World Cup ski halfpipe
The Erin, Ont. competitor got here away with a rating of 85.50 on her first run to put 2nd within the girls’s ski halfpipe occasion in the course of the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup cease in Calgary.
“That’s fairly loopy. Yeah, loving it. That’s wild,” Karker stated. “Competing is such an adrenalin excessive and such a crash, it is actually arduous to do day after day, however I’m so blissful that it labored out.”
The 25-year-old from Erin, Ont., who was a bronze medallist in Beijing, continues to guide the ladies’s World Cup halfpipe standings after three of 4 scheduled occasions this season.
Kexin Zhang of China was third Saturday with a high rating of 81.75 factors.
Dillan Glennie of Courtenay, B.C., completed sixth (73.75), whereas hometown skier Amy Fraser was seventh after her last run earned a rating of 63.75.
Ferreira’s 94.50 within the second spherical was the best males’s rating of the day forward of Irving’s 93.
Bowman fell on his first two passes trying a right-side 1440, however nailed it on his third and last move to attain 90.50.
WATCH | Bowman claims bronze on dwelling snow:
Calgary’s Noah Bowman locations third in World Cup ski halfpipe in hometown
The Calgary native scored 90.50 on his third and last try to win the bronze medal within the males’s ski halfpipe competitors in the course of the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup cease.
“Training went terribly,” Bowman stated. “I fell on each run and fell on the primary two runs of the competitors as properly. It was only a battle all night time to get this right-side 1440, the trick I used to be going for.
“I used to be in a position to put it down for the third run. That’s the primary time I’ve achieved that run with that trick. Putting that run down underneath strain in my hometown felt wonderful.”
The 30-year-old collected the thirteenth World Cup medal of his profession.
Simon d’Artois of Whistler, B.C., completed one level behind Bowman in fourth with 89.50.
Calgary’s Brendan Mackay, who gained silver on Thursday, completed eighth (70.50).
Karker, Bowman, Mackay, d’Artois, Fraser and Glennie are Canada’s halfpipe entries within the Jan. 27-29 invitational X Games, which has been referred to as the Super Bowl of freestyle ski and snowboard.
Calgary was helpful preparation for Aspen the place they will compete at night time underneath the lights once more.
“This was nice, truly, as a result of we did the final two days at night time and on the similar time, so it is type of already put me on that late-night schedule,” Karker stated.
Rachael Karker soars into the air in the course of the girls’s World Cup freestyle ski halfpipe occasion in Calgary on Saturday. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)
She made the agonizing choice to say no her X Games invitation in 2022 with the intention to keep away from each harm and the COVID-19 virus forward of Beijing’s Winter Games.
Karker is a three-time medallist in Aspen with a silver and two bronze.
“It is form of our second to the Olympics,” Karker stated. “It’s the largest occasion we now have yearly and to skip that, I used to be fairly gutted final yr to say no.
“I’ve podiumed at each X Games I’ve been to, so excited to attempt to make that 4.”
The half-dozen halfpipe skiers are amongst 15 Canadians invited to Aspen this yr. Regina snowboarder Mark McMorris holds the document for many medals gained in Winter X Games with 21.
2018 Olympic champion Cassie Sharpe of Comox, B.C., was second to Gu in Beijing. Sharpe didn’t compete in Calgary as a result of she’s taking time without work this season.
WATCH | Saturday’s freeski halfpipe World Cup in Calgary:
FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup Calgary: Ski halfpipe
Watch the boys’s and ladies’s ski halfpipe competitions from the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup cease in Calgary.
