The battle to make the U.S. Olympic freeskiing team is raging; following this weekend’s Dew Tour, hosted in Breckenridge, three of five Olympic qualifying events are now in the books and the Pyeongchang Games are just 51 days away.
Slopestyle and halfpipe skiers must garner two podium finishes in order to meet the Olympic team criteria. There are a total of four positions available for each of the U.S. freeskiing halfpipe and slopestyle teams, per gender. Three spots per discipline, per gender, are typically awarded as a reflection of contest finishes, while the fourth position is decided by coaches’ discretion.
The first Olympic qualifying contests included the Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain, CA, hosted in February 2017, and the Grand Prix hosted at Copper Mountain in early December, 2017. With Dew Tour now in the books, only two more contests remain: Grand Prixs will be contested at Snowmass, Colorado and Mammoth Mountain, between January 10-14 and January 17-21, respectively.
Thus far, the following U.S. athletes have earned at least one podium finish between the first three qualifiers:
Regarding men’s halfpipe, Torin Yater-Wallace; David Wise; Gus Kenworthy; Taylor Seaton; Aaron Blunck and Alex Ferreira each have one podium finish. Regarding women’s halfpipe, Devin Logan has one podium finish and former Olympic champ, Maddie Bowman, has earned the two podium finishes needed to qualify for Pyeongchang. On the slopestyle side of things, Nick Goepper has one podium finish.
The winning runs from this weekend’s Dew Tour are below. The featured image, above, is courtesy of Aaron Blatt x Monster Energy.
Men’s Halfpipe
Alex Ferreira — 94.66 ????????
Aaron Blunck — 93.33 ????????
Kevin Rolland — 92.00 ????????
Congrats on taking first place in superpipe @Alex_Ferreira3! Peep his winning run that earned him a 94.66. #Olympics #Pyeongchang2018 pic.twitter.com/ejjVWf5ISR
— Dew Tour (@DewTour) December 15, 2017
Women’s Halfpipe
Cassie Sharpe — 93.66 ????????
Marie Martinod — 92.00 ????????
Maddie Bowman — 90.33 ????????
.@CassieSharpe opening a can of worms on the competition! Congrats on the first place win. Slow-mo powered by @wormapp. #Olympics #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/pJFU4cmq8W
— Dew Tour (@DewTour) December 15, 2017
Men’s Slopestyle
Henrik Harlaut — 95.00 ????????
Nick Goepper — 92.00 ????????
Øystein Bråten — 91.33 ????????
Returning ski slopestyle champion @HenrikHarlaut takes home first place again after with a score of 95.00! Congrats to @NickGoepper on landing second and @oysteinbraten taking third. #DewTour #Olympics #PyeongChang2018 pic.twitter.com/Uur0OBWZID
— Dew Tour (@DewTour) December 16, 2017
Women’s Slopestyle
Johanne Killi — 90.00 ????????
Tess Ledeux — 89.00 ????????
Sarah Hoefflin — 84.00 ????????
An international field of ladies filled the ski slopestyle podium this year at Dew Tour Breckenridge. Norwegian @johanne_killi placed in first with French skier Tess Ledeux in second and Sarah Hoefflin holding it down in third for Switzerland. #DewTour pic.twitter.com/7GtLpPoh9H
— Dew Tour (@DewTour) December 16, 2017
View full results, here.
