Hey there America! Good morning y’all. After a day off to shred and all post the same Instagram photos from the amazing terrain and snow up high at Rosa Khutor, our heroic skiers were back at it in the halfpipe this morning for a couple hours of practice.

The pipe definitely isn’t perfect, but what is perfect anyway? It is however, holding up well and was way better than it was during the skiers’ first training session. And certainly there were some amazing performances for training, which we know doesn’t always translate to the finals. Women’s standouts included Roz Gronewoud, Maddie Bowman and Brita Sigourney, but the depth of the field is impressive.

Men’s highlights included Matt Margetts, Torin Yater-Wallace and Wing Tai Barrymore going huge, Kevin Rolland building his run methodically, Jossi Wells’ spread eagles, Gus Kenworthy’s third hit double, Noah Bowman’s smooth flow, and honestly too many to mention. Which brings up an interesting observation. Although the progression at the top end of halfpipe is unreal, the Olympic buildup has definitely brought some new skiers out of the woodwork. How to put it delicately? There were a few participants who, although I’m stoked to see stepping up to the challenge, need to work hard to be in contention for the Olympics.

Some notes for those of you in the Fantasy Freeride mood. First, the weather. Forecast is for snow tomorrow. The qualifiers will see the bulk of that, and although the lighting is amazing and the pipe is set in the trees for some contrast, expect flat light for the qualifiers. Hopefully the precipitation will taper off by evening and the finals will be under the bright lights, so should be only affected by snow conditions. Jossi is actually nursing an injury, so is taking things easy for the event. David Wise is nursing (haha) a lost ski bag and was still skiing on borrowed skis. In fact I saw him negotiating with Kevin Rolland to borrow some ski sticks more suited to his ski style for tomorrow’s main event. I’ll try to dig up more dirt for you before trading closes late on Friday night (at the whim of trademaster, all-around good guy and Freeskier editor Matt Harvey—direct all complaints his way).

Okay, off to lunch and then to our quick evening practice. Check back tomorrow for full coverage.