Mackay takes maiden win while Gu makes it two-for-two in Calgary

“Yesterday I was in a different country with a lost passport and I had no idea how I was even going to get here,” Gu smiled from the finish area, “But I figured it out at the very last moment, got to my flight, was the last person on my flight, forgot my phone charger, no mom, no coach…everything was just kind of chaotic.

“But I’ve been talking to my mom and my coach on the chairlift and getting amazing support from my friends here, so it’s been good. We made it work. I wanted to come out here and have fun because this is fun for me. That was the goal and I had a great time tonight.”

The win gave Gu two halfpipe World Cup victories this season, to go along with her Dew Tour halfpipe win and her win earlier in December at the Steamboat big air World Cup. With three wins in three competitions, Gu now has a commanding early season lead atop both the halfpipe and the FIS Freeski overall leaderboards.

Second place on Thursday went to the USA’s Hanna Faulhaber for her first career World Cup podium, as the highest-boosting woman in freeski halfpipe continues to add more tricks and greater consistency to her already impressive amplitude.

Faulhaber scored 92.80 for a first run that included a massive tail grab off the top, left and right side flair safety grabs, and an incredibly clean cork 720 safety, giving her her second straight big-competition top-3 after she finished third at the Dew Tour two weeks ago.

“It’s a crazy one for sure,” said Faulhaber on her first World Cup podium, “It’s great to be able to put down consistently and I’m just happy to keep it going. I don’t know really what to say, I’m just excited for how it’s going and it’s unbelievable – I never thought that I would be here.”

Third place went to Canada’s Rachael Karker for the first of three podiums on the day for the host nation. Sitting in fourth before her final run, Karker was able to step things up when it mattered most, corking things out on all of her first four hits with a left flair, right flair, cork left 900 Japan, and a right cork 900 to earn herself a score of 90.20 and to keep her World Cup podium streak alive with her seventh-straight top-3.

With two wins, Gu sits atop the World Cup halfpipe rankings with 200 points, followed by Karker with 140, and Faulhaber with 125.

Mackay takes maiden World Cup win at home

Over in the men’s competition there was a changes on the podium throughout the evening, with it looking at one point things were all lined up for a Canadian podium sweep on home soil.

The one thing that reminded consistent throughout the evening, however, was the standout performance by Calgary’s own Brendan Mackay, who stomped three runs that scored above 92 points on Thursday – including a third-and-final attempt that might have been the best run of his life, considering the conditions.

Mackay lead things off with a switch left alley-oop double flatspin 900 safety, into a smooth left switch left 720 safety and then a right 900 tail, before going ballistic on his last two hits with a left dub 1260 safety into a right dub 1260 safety to finish his run off, stomping three double corks on a night when only one other skier even attempted two.