David Wise looks on at the 2018 U.S. Grand Prix on Dec. 5, 2018 in Copper Mountain, Colo.
A trio of U.S. Olympians landed on the podium at the first halfpipe skiing world cup event of the season Friday at Copper Mountain in Frisco, Colorado.
Aaron Blunck won the men’s competition while two-time Olympic champion David Wise came in third, and Olympic bronze medalist Brita Sigourney came in third in the women’s competition. Aside from being an FIS World Cup event, this event also serves as the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix.
Blunck, who finished seventh at the Olympics both in 2014 and 2018, had the best run of the day scoring a blistering 96.25 on his second of the three runs. New Zealand’s Miguel Porteous was second with a 93.74 while Wise scored a 90.50 on his first run to hold on to third place. Blunck also held the lead spot in his heat in qualifying. Wise just made it into the final, placing fifth in his heat, as a total of six U.S. men made the final cut.
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In the women’s event, Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru scored an impressive 93.00 on her second run to capture first place ahead of Olympic gold medalist Cassie Sharpe, of Canada, and her top score of 89.75.
Sigourney’s third and final run was her highest scoring of the day, coming in at 88.00 to cement her third-place spot. Sigourney was also third after qualifying and the highest ranking American. The two-time Olympian finished last season ranked second overall in the women’s world cup standings in halfpipe skiing.
2014 Olympic champion Maddie Bowman finished fifth, Devin Logan sixth and Annalisa Drew eighth as the U.S. landed four athletes in the eight-woman final.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
