Copper Mtn Ski Halfpipe Grand Prix 2013
đ 20/12/2013
đ Copper mountain
Copper Mountain Grand Prix 2013 ski halfpipe competition held at Copper Mountain, Colorado from December 18 to 22 2013 | Halfpipe finals: December 20 | Winners: Aaron Blunck and Brita Sigourney | Format: FIS World Cup and U.S. Olympic selection event before Sochi 2014 under the Main Vein lights
December 20 Under The Copper Lights
The Copper Mountain round of the Visa U.S. Freeskiing Grand Prix ran from December 18 to 22 2013, with ski halfpipe qualification on December 19 and the men's and women's World Cup finals on December 20. The halfpipe contest arrived in the middle of the U.S. Olympic selection race for Sochi 2014, when freeski halfpipe was preparing for its first Olympic appearance. The final was staged at night on Copper's Main Vein pipe, turning an early-season World Cup into a direct test of both international form and American Olympic selection pressure.
Main Vein 160 Metres And 6.7 Metre Walls
The FIS technical sheet listed Main Vein at 160 metres long, 19.6 metres wide from wall to wall, with 6.7 metre walls, a 17 degree pipe inclination and 82 degree vert. The men's final started at 19:20 in light snow, with an air temperature of minus 7 Celsius, a snow temperature of minus 8 Celsius and a light northeast wind. Those numbers mattered because the riders had to preserve speed through a pipe collecting fresh snow. The men's competition had drawn 49 skiers from 16 nations before the field was reduced to 12 finalists.
Aaron Blunck Turns Run Two Into 92.00
Aaron Blunck, only 17 at the time, won the men's final with 92.00 on his second run. His first attempt scored 73.40, leaving him with work to do. Run two changed the order: he opened with a right double 1260, followed with a left 1080, a switch right 720, an alley-oop flat 540 and a right 1080 to close. The judges returned five marks clustered between 91 and 93, producing the 92.00 that held for the win. KĂ©vin Rolland had set a strong 90.20 on run one, while Gus Kenworthy reached 90.00 on his second run.
Men's Ski Halfpipe - December 20 2013
Gold: Aaron Blunck (USA) with 92.00
Silver: KĂ©vin Rolland (FRA) with 90.20
Bronze: Gus Kenworthy (USA) with 90.00
Brita Sigourney Controls The Snow For 86.60
Brita Sigourney controlled the women's final with 86.60, improving from an opening run that was already strong enough to keep her in the fight. The heavy snow made clean transitions and retained speed especially valuable. Her winning package included an alley-oop Japan, a left 900, an alley-oop 540, a left 540 tail, a right 540 and a 720 tail. Maddie Bowman finished second with 83.20, while France's Marie Martinod took third on 78.80. The top six also included Devin Logan, Annalisa Drew and Anais Caradeux, giving the final a field that closely resembled the emerging Olympic-era women's halfpipe scene.
Women's Ski Halfpipe - December 20 2013
Gold: Brita Sigourney (USA) with 86.60
Silver: Maddie Bowman (USA) with 83.20
Bronze: Marie Martinod (FRA) with 78.80
Two Points Separate The Men's Top Three
The numbers show how narrow the men's finish was. Blunck beat Rolland by 1.80 points and Kenworthy by 2.00, with Justin Dorey fourth on 86.20, Simon Dumont fifth on 85.00 and Alex Ferreira sixth on 84.40. That compressed top group rewarded riders who could combine difficult rotations with enough control to carry speed through every wall. On the women's side, Sigourney had a 3.40 point margin over Bowman and 7.80 over Martinod. Unlike a contest decided by one isolated trick, both finals demanded complete halfpipe runs over multiple hits.
Copper Becomes A Sochi Selection Pressure Test
Copper was more than a World Cup score sheet for the American team. U.S. Ski and Snowboard reported that Blunck's victory moved him to the top of the U.S. Olympic qualification standings. He entered Copper behind other established names and left with a result that strengthened his selection position. The Grand Prix was part of the domestic qualifying series used to determine the first U.S. Olympic freeskiing team. Bowman and Sigourney were also carrying Olympic-selection results into the next Grand Prix stops, so every clean final run had value beyond the World Cup ranking alone.
Less Than Two Months Before Olympic Halfpipe
The timing gave the contest extra weight. Ski halfpipe and ski slopestyle had been added to the Sochi 2014 Olympic programme, and Copper's December final came less than two months before the Olympic men's halfpipe event at Rosa Khutor. The sport was translating its established X Games and Grand Prix culture into a new Olympic framework. The Copper field mixed experienced halfpipe specialists such as Rolland, Dumont and Martinod with younger riders such as Blunck and Ferreira, all competing under a World Cup judging structure where a complete series of controlled hits mattered as much as a single difficult rotation.
Copper Mountain's 2013 halfpipe final ultimately produced six podium places split between the United States and France: Blunck, Sigourney, Kenworthy and Bowman for the USA, and Rolland and Martinod for France. The winning scores were 92.00 and 86.60, the finals took place on December 20, and the Main Vein pipe measured 160 metres with 6.7 metre walls. Those results capture freeski halfpipe at a precise point in its history, weeks before the discipline entered the Olympic programme in competition for the first time.
