Photo Courtesy of FIS

The Snow Rodeo is back as Calgary hosts two World Cup halfpipe events this week at the famous Canada Olympic Park. Brendan Mackay qualified first in the men's and Eileen Gu took that spot in the women's qualifiers on her return to the competition circuit. The conditions were perfect with a gorgeous, although shorter than most, stunt ditch and no wind set us up for a belter under the lights. Let's find out who came out on top when it really counted!

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Women

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Run 1:

Riley Jacobs opened the night with a clean first run albeit a little low on amplitude, 70.25 was the bar the judges set for this and the night was off to a good start. Amy Fraser had a dope run, with back-to-back flairs and a cork 9 on a dope axis, landing a little high on the transition and maybe losing a hit, wanting to clean it up for run 2. Dillan Glennie washed out her second hit after a first hit 9 that went down with promise. Kexin Zhang took her right 7 very high up on the transitions and laced 3 switch hits in a row. A good-looking run, the judges agreed, earning 73.75 and taking an early lead. Hannah Faulhaber, known for her amplitude in the ditch was next to drop, her signature blunt air opened proceedings, locking in the mute on her cork 7 and boosting on both-way flairs, it wasn't enough to pip Kexin but put her in the second seat for now. Rachel Karker, yellow bib wearer and Canadian, dropped mirrored 9s to start things off, right flair and left 7 followed with an alley-oop 3 to finish. 81.75 was the score to beat thrown down for Eileen. This run looked to leave something in the tank, despite being huge and clean. Both-way 9s, a rightside 7 with an alleyoop 180 to cap it off. It was unsurprising this took the top spot with 90.00.

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Run 2:

Rachel Karker and Daeun Kim tightened things up marginally increasing their scores. Amy Fraser also improved things at the top of her but had to use her strength to hold onto the final hit so retained her first run score. Dillan Glennie put down her run in at the second time of asking with some technical hits but lacked some amplitude leaving room to improve in run 3. Kexin Zhang, currently 3rd dropped, her first hit clipped the deck and she somehow managed to hold on to finish her run. However, missing some grabs docked her score and she didn't improve it. Hannah Faulhaber added to her amplitude and cleaned up her landings adding 6 points to her score and getting bumped up into 3rd. Rachel Karker added to her final hit, the alleyoop 3 becoming 5, to try and increase her score, improving to 85.25. This gave her a cushion in the second spot but wasn't enough to push Eileen out of first. Eileen came out swinging in response to Rachel, locking the Buick grab on her opening right 9 Buick capping things with a gorgeous alleyoop left flat 5, this added to her score leaving a mountain to climb for anyone wanting to take first. 95.00 was the score to beat.

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Run 3:

Amy Fraser shuffled her first hit switch 9 a little bit but kept the rest of the run clean with two 9s finishing things off nicely. Stoked on the run and caused some head scratches in the booth and pushed her from 7th to 4th. Kexin Zhang pulled out of her run after a few misplaced landings. Hannah Faulhaber also sat down on a landing and cruised the rest of her final run, with 3rd place secured leaving Rachel Karker a final chance to take the top spot. She added a left 10 into her run, although missing the blunt grab, as a final attempt to increase the score but it wasn't enough to push Olympic champion Eileen Gu into 2nd yet increased her score to 89.00. Eileen Gu laid down a victory lap for an identical score securing her first competition after an 11.5 month break from competitive skiing.

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Men

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Run 1:

Dylan Marineau kicked things off going huge, somewhat to his detriment, with his down-the-pipe dub flat 9 going a bit large and his final hit a dub 12 being the same with a hand touch. Birk Irving, winner in Copper, sporting the yellow bib over bright pink suit laced up a heater, dropping his switch down the pipe 7 mid-run and stomping his dub 12. 83.50 set the bar. Hometown hero and veteran of the field Noah Bowman went down on his first hit, his creativity in the pipe would surely show in later runs.

Hunter Hess, arguably the most stylish in transition and one of the most well-rounded skiers in the field dropped next, deciding to open with a hammer, left dub 16, that he couldn't quite hold on to - beaten by the transition in a similar fashion to Noah. David Wise ran out of room after his first switch 9 travelled a long way. He seemed unhappy to miss a grab but his back-to-back dub 12 mutes put him in first with an 87.25. Alex Ferreira had a lovely pair of opening hits; switch cork 10 followed up with a dub 16 tindy. Although landing a bit back seat cut a lot off his run and his score, 66.50 putting him in 3rd.

Aaron Blunck also seemed to run out of room for his last hit, being the switch dub flat 9 which was massive being a highlight but his score didn't contend. Simon D'Artois looked the most comfortable in the pipe so far, his AO dub cork 10 was gorgeous and his grabs locked, only spinning right once and sitting back a little on the final hit. The judges spent some time on this one. 90.75 put him in the top spot, pushing all dials up on the scoring table. Jon Salinen didn't finish his run with two switch doubles. Brendan Mackay made pipe skiing look easy with a massive run, opening things up with back-to-back switch doubles, lacing a switch left dub flat 9 and capping his right cork 9 perfectly, before closing his run with back-to-back double 12s. This run deservedly scored 94.5 for first at the end of run 1.

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Run 2:

Dylan Marineau compressed in the transition riding switch into the third hit and employed cat-like reflexes to keep his feet under him a fitting reminder of how technical halfpipe skiing is. Birk Irving lost his speed on his second hit and styled his way through the rest of the pipe while Noah Bowman struggled on his first hit again and pulled a heelpiece out of his ski - this may have been the cause of his first hit struggles.

Hunter looked to shake things up putting down a huge left dub 16, right cork 9 lead mute, right 10 nose and dub 9 Japan. This showed what Hunter is made of and looked threatening, however, a lack of bigger spins seemed to keep his score down to only a 70. David Wise added to his 3rd hit taking it around for a double but couldn't stick it. Alex Ferreira was stoked with his run, signified by a pole swing after fighting to get the last hit in. Truly a rodeo ride from Alex. The judges didn't reward some of the looseness through the middle and the judges scored it harshly, this run had the potential to contend with the podium. Aaron Blunck cleaned his run up nicely, using every last inch of the ditch, improving on his last run but remaining out of the top spots. Simon D'Artois's final alleyoop left dub 10 was a crowd pleaser and went deep, a flowy run, but not as clean as the first, retaining second place. Jon Salinen went down again on his second switch dub 10 after kicking things off nicely. Brendan Mackay went down on hit 2 but kept his top spot going into run 3.

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Run 3:

Run three caused problems for many of the riders but things still got heated up for a podium contest. Birk Irving couldn't put it down. Having to come back again on Saturday for a second chance at the W. Noah Bowman finally put down a run, going huge on the right dub 12 backed up with a left 10 with a flat 5 and 7s finishing things up. This showed what he's really capable of and the judges really thought about the score. 80.50 was only enough for 6th, although Noah made halfpipe skiing look about as good as it gets with this one.

Hunter Hess couldn't put down the opening 16, staying in 8th and David Wise hip checked on a backseat landing - sitting in the bubble spot of third David would have to watch as the final 5 would drop. Alex Ferreira cleaned things up and this was a vintage run from the Aspen local. The pole was swung with even more zest this time and the judges boosted his score to 92.50 and earned preliminary second. The shorter ditch stole a hit from Aaron Blunck but other than that the run was flawless with a sick axis on the dub flat 9, although not enough to podium.

Simon D'Artois turned up the amplitude dial and locked in all his hits to earn second. Jon Salinen, the second qualifier dropped to have a final chance at bumping Brendan Mackay after crashing on both first runs. His last left double 12 was lofty and his switch doubles through the full run were perfect. The judges agreed, earning a 96.00 and leaving Brendan Mackay a huge last run to win back first, he threw the kitchen sink at it but couldn't stick the double 16 leaving Jon Salinen to take the first win for Finland in halfpipe in almost 10 years with Canadians Brendan Mackay and Simon D'Artois in second and third.

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Results

Women

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Men

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