Skiing: Ferreira second at Secret Garden World Cup; Faulhaber announces return to halfpipe

Aspen’s Alex Ferreira is off to a strong start in his halfpipe skiing season, recording another podium in his latest competition this past weekend in China.

The two-time Olympic medalist finished runner-up on Saturday at the Secret Garden World Cup, the 92.25 he scored coming in behind only Indiana’s Nick Goepper (95). Rounding out the men’s podium was Nevada’s David Wise (89) for the American sweep. All three skiers are at least 30 years old — a rare accomplishment in a sport usually dominated by youth.

Aspen’s Cassidy Jarrell finished 10^th and Kai Morris was 16^th in the 16-skier final. Athletes who competed in China but did not make it past qualifying include Crested Butte’s Aaron Blunck (He was officially 17^th), Aspen’s Hunter Maytin (20^th), Aspen’s Nick Geiser (30^th), and Aspen’s Tristan Feinberg (41^st).

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For Ferreira, this is back-to-back runner-up finishes after also taking second in the Cardrona World Cup in New Zealand on Sept. 9. He now has 17 career podiums on the World Cup, with nine wins, in 43 starts. The 30-year-old historically swept all of his competitions last season, including a win in Secret Garden a year ago, as well as his third career X Games Aspen gold.

Gu continues to dominate women’s field

The women’s halfpipe skiing competition was won by China’s Eileen Gu (90), followed in second by China’s Fanghui Li (82.75) and Winter Park’s Svea Irving (80). It was only the second career World Cup podium for the 22-year-old Irving.

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Canada’s Cassie Sharpe, 32, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist, was fourth in her latest comeback attempt after missing all of the past two seasons due to having a child.

For the unstoppable 21-year-old Gu, her World Cup resume now includes 25 starts, 22 podiums, and 16 wins between halfpipe, slopestyle, and big air. She won three Olympic medals (two gold) in three events at the 2022 Beijing Games and is the reigning X Games halfpipe champion.

Faulhaber to compete at Copper

Not competing last weekend at Secret Garden was Basalt’s Hanna Faulhaber, who continues to recover from a season-ending knee injury in the lead-up to X Games last January. That recovery could be coming to an end, however, as Faulhaber announced on social media that she’ll compete in the upcoming Copper Mountain Grand Prix.

“After almost a year of recovery since injuring my knee, I’m finally ready to get #backinthebib,” she wrote Thursday on Instagram. “Stoked to be back competing this upcoming week in the Copper Grand Prix. I am so thankful for everyone who has helped me throughout this process and can’t wait to see what comes next.”

Her last World Cup event happened to be last year’s Grand Prix at Copper, where she finished second to Gu on Dec. 15. The 20-year-old Faulhaber has five career World Cup podiums in 13 starts to go with a world championship title in 2023 and her sixth-place finish at the 2022 Olympics.

The Copper Grand Prix gets qualifying underway for halfpipe skiing on Thursday, Dec. 19, for both men and women. Finals for both are Saturday, Dec. 21. The U.S. World Cup schedule includes a trip to Aspen for a Grand Prix from Jan. 30-Feb. 6, slotted between X Games (Jan. 23-25), and the debut of Shaun White’s new halfpipe league (March 7-8) at Buttermilk Ski Area.

Totsuka, Mastro take snowboard wins

Secret Garden also included a halfpipe snowboarding component. Japan’s Yuto Totsuka won the Dec. 8 final with 95.5 points, followed in second by Australia’s Scotty James (88.25) and in third by Japan’s Ryusei Yamada (87.75), who had his first career World Cup podium.

Reigning Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano of Japan was fourth (86.25). Idaho’s Chase Josey was the only American in finals, finishing ninth (72.75).

The women’s final was won by California’s Maddie Mastro. While she’s had an impressive career already, this was the 24-year-old’s first career World Cup win — and 16th podium — in 27 starts. Behind Mastro’s 88.75 was runner-up Xuetong Cai of China (86.25) and third-placed Maddy Schaffrick (85.25), the 30-year-old veteran from Steamboat Springs whose last World Cup start had come back in 2015.

American superstar Chloe Kim did not compete at Secret Garden.

Snowboard halfpipe qualifying for the Copper Grand Prix will be Wednesday, Dec. 18, with the finals set for Friday, Dec. 20.

Among snowboarders with Aspen ties is Colorado’s Chris Corning. The 25-year-old big air and slopestyle rider recently competed in China on Dec. 1 in a World Cup, finishing fifth in the big air final, best among Americans.

Prior to that, the two-time Olympian was 15th in a big air World Cup on Dec. 1 in Chur, Switzerland, and was 28th in slopestyle at a Sept. 2 World Cup in New Zealand.

acolbert@aspentimes.com