US SQUAD ROLLING DEEP AT HOME SOIL SEASON-OPENER
Over on the men’s side of things the heavily stacked US squad might be eyeing up a sweep of the podium if all the pieces fall into place, with a roster of Olympic medallists, World Champions and X Games winners that’s the envy of the halfpipe world.
David Wise, Aaron Blunck, Alex Ferreira, Birk Irving, Dylan Ladd, Hunter Hess, a next-gen team that boasts the likes of Matthew Labaugh and Cameron Broderick…the list goes on and on for the US team.
Wise is a three-time Olympic medallist, including two golds and silver at the Beijing 2022 Games last season, and despite the fact he’s now 32 years old, the father of two continues to get the job done, season after season. Like his fellow veteran Sigourney on the women’s side, Wise has two wins and five career podiums at Copper Mountain, with his last one coming back in 2019/20.
Last season was something of a down year for Blunck, who only competed in World Cup events at Copper and Mammoth, earning a third at the latter event. Blunck also qualified in first place at the Games in China but just couldn’t put it together in the tough finals conditions. Still just 26-years-old, the two-time World Champion will be out to prove he has plenty left in the tank despite a bit of a struggle last season.
Ferreira earned his second-straight Olympic medal last winter in Beijing when he followed up Wise to take bronze, and the 28-year-old finished in a tie for last season’s crystal globe which he eventually lost out on by tiebreaker.
Who’d Ferreira lose out to? None other than Brendan Mackay of Canada, who came third last season in Copper before taking back-to-back victories on home soil in Canada, with those two wins giving him the edge over Ferreira come tiebreak time. With Mackay, Simon D’Artois, Noah Bowman and Dylan Marineau the Canadians represent the biggest challenge to the host US squad.
However, there’s a few others to factor in as well, with New Zealand’s Gustav Legnavsky and Ben Harrington, Jon Sallinen of Finland, Switzerland’s Rafael Kreienbuehl and maybe even China’s Mao Bingqiang possible finalists come Saturday.
WHERE TO WATCH (livestream links below)
skiandsnowboard.live (USA), Eurosport Asia, CBC streaming (CAN), CCTV16 (CHN), CT Sport Plus streaming (CZE), TV3 Sport 3HD (EST), V Sport + (FIN, NOR), L’Equipe streaming (FRA), TV3 Sport (LAT, LIT), ESPN Latin America, Polsat Sport News (POL), JOJ Sport (SVK), V Sport Vinter (SWE), SRG SSR (SUI), Viaplay streaming (GBR)
QUICK LINKS
