Mammoth Mountain SB slopestyle preview
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If there’s one rider who can do it, however, it’s Anderson, and though she ended up finishing in seventh at the Dew Tour to begin her season, she was the most recent women’s slopestyle winner here in Mammoth two years ago, as well as the winner back in the 2016/17 season. With just over a month to go before she looks for an Olympic gold medal three-peat, expect Anderson to up the ante here in Mammoth as she looks to peak in Beijing.
Along with Anderson, US will also see Hailey Langland and Julia Marino dropping in on their first slopestyle World Cups of this season, and all should be looking strong come finals time.
The host squad will, however, be in tough against the Japanese team, with Calgary winner Murase backed up by Calgary runner-up Miyabi Onitsuka, as well as Reira Iwabuchi, who qualified fourth in Calgary but ended up finishing in seventh.
Up-and-coming teenagers Melissa Pepperkamp (NED) and Evy Poppe (BEL) both had their best-ever World Cup results in Calgary last week, as did Finland’s Carola Niemelae, so keep an eye on those three as well, along with the likes of Klaudia Medlova (SVK), Katie Ormerod (GBR) and Jasmine Baird (CAN).
DEFENDING OLYMPIC CHAMP GERARD LOOKING FOR THIRD MAMMOTH WIN
On the men’s side of things the US squad is adding some serious fire power for what is an important Olympic qualification event for their squad, with Red Gerard, Dusty Henricksen, Brock Crouch and Judd Henkes all on the scene after sitting out the Calgary comp.
Gerard in particular is one to keep an eye on, as he’s fresh off his second-straight Dew Tour win, and comes into this season’s Mammoth competition matching his teammate Anderson with two previous victories here.
Henkes also has two previous podiums here, while Henricksen grabbed his first career World Cup win here two years ago. And with Luke Winkelmann coming into Mammoth fresh off his first career World Cup podium in Calgary last weekend, you can expect the US snowboard team to be very much in the podium mix on Saturday.
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