Gu makes history, Porteous wins men’s event, and Mackay earns globe in surprise finish

“I’m absolutely blown away,” Gu said just after her score had come in, “97.50…that’s the highest score I’ve ever gotten. I’m so happy to put a run down today, I think that’s probably one of the best runs I’ve ever done in the halfpipe. And to finish the World Cup season with another win and get my first crystal globe, it’s just incredible.”

Second place for the women with a score of 92.50 was Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru, as the 19-year-old was her typical smooth and stylish self, matching Gu with back-to-back 900s off the top, spinning all four ways, and squeezing the most hits into her run of anyone on the day.however, as she was not quite able to match the amplitude and variety of axis that Gu included in her run, she’d have to settle for runner-up.

Rounding out the women’s podium in third place with a score of 87.75 was the USA’s own Brita Sigourney, as the 31-year-old punched her ticket to her third Olympic Winter Games in Beijing with her classic style, including an alley-oop on her second hit that challenged most of the men even for the biggest air of the day.

PORTEOUS WINS THE DAY, WHILE FERREIRA’S MISTAKE HANDS MACKAY THE GLOBE

Before we get to the men’s competition, perhaps the most incredible thing that happened in the Mammoth competition took place two days ago in qualifications, when the USA’s Alex Ferreira somehow fell on his first hit in both of his qualification runs to finish in 34th place – dead last.

Coming into Mammoth, Ferreira was tied atop the men’s World Cup leaderboard with Canada’s Brendan Mackay, who elected not to travel south to Mammoth and instead rest up for Beijing 2022.

With that decision, Mackay essentially handed the globe to Ferreira, who needed only to come 30th or higher and score a single point at Mammoth to win what would have been his second career globe. Ferreira, with three straight podiums up to that point in the 2021/22 season, seemed like an absolute lock for the trophy.

But, somehow, he wasn’t. And, with those two two top skiers still tied, the decision went to the first tiebreaker – most wins World Cup wins on the season – which meant that Mackay, after his back-to-back victories on home soil in Calgary last week, would walk away the season’s biggest winner, earning the crystal globe in a shocking result.

Now, back to the competition at Mammoth, where Nico Porteous used his second and final attempt of the competition to put down the explosive kind of run that has become his signature, leading things off with a switch 900, into a switch dub 1080, then into his contest-breaker combo –  a right dub 1620, into a left dub 1620 that no one else in the world can match right now. Finishing things off with an alley-oop dub flatspin, Porteous would earn a score of 97.00 and his career World Cup win.