Halfpipe skiers saddle up for Calgary Snow Rodeo this week

While we won’t be seeing reigning World Champion Nico Porteous (NZL) or two-time World Champion Aaron Blunck (USA) this week in Calgary, every other skier who hit the finals at Copper Mountain World Cup will be on hand and looking to deliver, including Canadian favourite Brendan Mackay.

With third place finishes in both the World Cup and the Dew Tour at Copper, 23-year-old Mackay is on an impressive hot streak of his own so far in 2021/22, and should be hyped up for more as he returns to the site where he earned his first-ever World Cup podium back in the 2019/20 season.

There will be a huge Canadian contingent flying the Maple Leaf along with Mackay, with veterans Simon D’Artois and Noah Bowman foremost amongst them.

While both are at the upper-end of the freeski age spectrum at 29 years old, D’Artois and Bowman continue to perform at an elite level, with D’Artois winning silver at last season’s World Championships in Aspen, and Bowman barely just missing out on a crystal globe win the last time we had a full World Cup season back in 2019/20. Bowman also has some top-3 experience here in Calgary, earning a podium the first time the halfpipe World Cup visited the venue, way back in 2013/14.

The Marineau brothers, Dylan and Evan, should also be in the mix for the Canadians come time for finals this week.

As with the women’s field, it’s the rest of the US team who is best positioned to deny Canada’s finest from dominating the podium as, along with Ferreira, we can look forward to seeing Aspen 2021 bronze medallist Birk Irving and two-time reigning Olympic gold medallist David Wise, as well as the likes of Lyman Currier, Jaxin Hoerter, Cassidy Jarrell, and Hunter Hess.

Legends Gus Kenworthy (GBR) (who was the men’s winner last time we were in Calgary for halfpipe competition) and Kevin Rolland (FRA) are also on the scene and looking to build some momentum heading towards what may be the last Olympic Games for each of them in Beijing, while Ben Harrington (NZL), Marco Ladner (AUT) and Mao Bingqing (CHN) are a few of the other international names to watch out for.

Find the broadcast and YouTube livestream links for each day of competition in Calgary below.

WHERE TO WATCH LIVE:

DEC 30 – Eurosport 1 Asia, Eurosport Player, CBC Sports Streaming, CT SPORT Web, Viaplay, L’Equipe Web, Arena, POLSAT SPORT EXTRA, JOJ TV, skiandsnowboard.live, Peacock

JAN 1 – Eurosport 1 Asia, Eurosport 2, Eurosport Player, CBC Sports Streaming, CT SPORT Web, Viaplay, V Sport+, L’Equipe Web, Arena, JOJ TV, skiandsnowboard.live, Peacock

QUICK LINKS: