Those on hand in Mammoth Mountain (USA) on Friday were treated to a truly epic day of competition under warm, sunny Californian skies, where Cai Xuetong (CHN) and Yuto Totsuka (JPN) put their stamp on the Mammoth halfpipe with some incredible riding to take wins at the FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup Mammoth Mountain Land Rover US Grand Prix.
Mastro makes history, but Cai puts down massive final run for victory
Second-place qualifier Cai – and the rest of the field – had the unenviable position of having to drop in on their third runs after the USA’s own Maddie Mastro made some World Cup history with her second run, becoming the first women’s rider to stomp a double inverted trick in World Cup competition when she rode away clean from her last-hit double crippler.
Mastro would earn a score of 94.00 for her second run, holding what seemed like an unassailable lead into the third and final runs.
Cai, however, would not be intimidated, dropping in for the second-to-last run of the women’s final and putting down one of the best we’ve seen from the five-time crystal globe winner. Starting off with a perfect method, Cai then went frontside 900, backside 540 mute, air-to-fakie melon, before finishing things off with an outstanding switch frontside 900 melon, all of which would earn her a score of 94.80 for the win.
“It feels like…I can’t believe it happened,” an emotional Cai said from the finish area, “I’m so happy. Everybody was riding so well and it’s an incredible day. I wanted to do that same run on my second run, but I struggled on my first hit. So I just put all my energy into my last run and it paid off.”
After Mastro stomped her history-making second run, no one anticipated that she would end up in second place once things were all said and done. However, despite what must have been a disappointing outcome for the 19-year-old, she still walked away with her third World Cup podium of the season, and with the double crippler in her pocket and room to improve on some of other tricks, her first World Cup win should be coming very soon.
Liu Jaiyu would finish up in third place with a score of 91.20 for her fourth World Cup podium in four events this season.
Totsuka nearly perfect to take victory and World Cup lead
Over on the men’s event we saw one of halfpipe snowboarding’s superstars-in-the-making finally take his place atop the podium after a string of second-place finishes, as Yuto Totsuka put down a statement performance to take the victory on Friday in Mammoth.
Totsuka has finished in second-place behind Australia’s Scotty James in every competition entered so far in 2019/20. And while James was not on hand to do battle with Totsuka this week in California, Totsuka’s performance would have surely given James all he could handle had he been on site.
Totsuka started things off with a combo he had never previously landed in competition – a frontside 1440 into a cab double cork 1260 mute. He then dropped a switch backside 900 mute, a cab 1080 nose to tail grabs, and finally a picture-perfect frontside 1260 tail grab to finish things off, earning himself a score of 97.20 in the process.
“I’m very happy to land the frontside 1440 to cab 1260 combo for the first time in competition today,” Totsuka said after the awards ceremony, “I’m happy to win today, but next time I want to beat Scotty James.”
With his fourth-straight podium of the season Totsuka leapfrogged James into first on the men’s World Cu standings, with 3400 points to James’ 3000, putting Totsuka in a strong position to win his third-straight halfpipe crystal globe.
Second-place on the day with a score of 89.20 was the USA’s Taylor Gold, giving the 26-year-old his second-straight World Cup podium in what is one of the feel-good stories of the year, as Gold has reestablished himself amongst the halfpipe world’s elite after several seasons of injuries and setbacks. While Gold was unable to cleanly stomp his signature “Chuck Taylor” double Michaelchuk 1080 trick in his second and third runs, once he does so in World Cup competition it will be a scene to remember.
And rounding out the podium in third was Totsuka’s teammate Ruka Hirano with a score of 87.80 – the third-straight third-place result for the 17-year-old who was recently crowned champion at the Youth Olympic Games in Leysin (SUI).
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Source: FIS Snowboard
Photos: U.S. Ski & Snowboard
