Nico Porteous, Eileen Gu win Mammoth World Cup Halfpipe

Nico Porteous and Eileen Gu reigned victorious in the halfpipe at the 2022 Mammoth World Cup—also known as the U.S. Grand Prix.

Women’s finals
After handily taking the top spot in the qualifications two days earlier, halfpipe phenom Eileen Gu cruised to victory in the finals on January 8, 2022. The win completed a 3-for-3 sweep for Gu in World Cup halfpipe competition leading up to the 2022 Winter Olympics, where she’s a favorite for the gold medal in multiple disciplines.

In Mammoth, Gu stuck to her guns on her go-to halfpipe run: back-to-back right and left cork 900s with buick and japan grabs, a right 720 tail into switch left cork 720, and finishing with an alley-oop left flat 540 mute. After scoring a 94.75 on her first run, Gu upped the ante on her second, skiing even more cleanly for a high score of 97.50 for the day.

"I am absolutely blown away," said Gu. "97.5, that’s the highest score I've ever gotten. I'm so happy to put a run down today—I think that's probably one of the best runs I've done in halfpipe."

Kelly Sildaru locked down second place behind Gu. She offered a rightside 900 mute into a left 900 tail, matching left and right alley-oop 540 tails, a right 720 tail, and finishing with switch left and right 540 safety grabs.

Third place went to halfpipe veteran Brita Sigourney, who edged out her young US team compatriot Hanna Faulhaber by only half a point for the podium spot. Sigourney’s run: left cork 900, alley-oop tail, left cork 720, switch left 360, left cork 540 mute, right cork 720.

Men’s Finals
With halfpipe legend David Wise in the lead after the first run, New Zealand’s Nico Porteous pulled out all the stops to score a winning 97.00 on his second run. Porteous laced a switch right 900 mute and switch left double 1080 safety into his signature back-to-back left and right double cork 1620 safeties, before finishing off with a left alley-oop double flatspin 900 japan.

"I've had a bit of a tough season, you know, we’ve had some tough conditions in finals," said Porteous. "I haven’t really been skiing the way I wanted to. To put that [run] down is kind of a nice icing on the cake for the World Cup season, and now I’m on to the next two big events."

David Wise claimed the silver medal on the strength of his first run. Wise linked a switch right 900 tail into a switch left double cork 1080 japan, blasted a huge left alley-oop flatspin 540 tail, then capped off his run with his signature back-to-back left and right double cork 1260 mutes for a score of 95.25.

Third place went to Aaron Blunck, the only competitor to put down a run with double corks in all four directions. Blunck opened with a right double cork 1440 tail into a switch double combo—his totally blind switch left double 900 japan into a switch right double 1080 japan—then rounded out the run with a left double flatspin 900 and a right 1080 tail at the end of the pipe, scoring a 93.75.

The contest in Mammoth was the third and final halfpipe World Cup of the 2021/22 season—an abbreviated contest year in comparison to the slopestyle circuit, which still has four more events to go. Eileen Gu claimed the overall women's halfpipe title, while the men's honors went to Brendan Mackay, who won in Calgary and took third at Copper Mountain.

Women's Final Results | 2022 Mammoth U.S. Grand Prix World Cup Halfpipe

men's Final Results | 2022 Mammoth U.S. Grand Prix World Cup Halfpipe