U.S. Continues To Dominate In World Cup Men’s Freeski Halfpipe

Wearing the gold bib that signifies he is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, U.S. halfpipe freeskier Alex Ferreira notced his 10th World Cup victory on Saturday at the Copper Mountain U.S. Grand Prix.

It’s Ferreira’s third World Cup podium in as many events after he finished second at both Cardrona and Secret Garden.

Ferreira’s second run score of 94.75 was the highest awarded by the judges in men’s or women’s qualifications or finals. In it, the 30-year-old went switch right double 1080 Japan, left 1620 safety, right 1080 lead tail, switch left 1080 tail and right 1620 blunt.

The latter trick marked a competition first right 1620 being landed with a capped tail grab.

Ferreira is also the freeski athlete with the best chance of claiming another first: the 1800. He has attempted it in competition but not yet landed it.

Holding a comfortable lead on his third and final run, Ferreira said that he could have upped the 16 on his final hit to an 18, but he lost speed after landing his second hit and decided to stand pat.

While acknowledging that he’s not as driven by the prospect of landing an NBD (never-before-done trick) as he is making a podium or winning a contest, it’s still “something in the back of the head.”

“It’s exciting if you are the first person to do something in the world, and I would definitely like to do that,” Ferreira said. Asked whether it’s something we’ll see in competition by Milano-Cortina 2026, the Aspen native said, “It’ll definitely be in [my run], so I assume it’ll be in other people’s, no question.”

With his three podium finishes so far in the 2024-25 season and the Milano-Cortina 2026 qualification window officially open, Ferreira is putting himself in great position to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. And for the first time in his career, the two-time Olympic medalist is actually thinking about those points with every competition he enters.

“Before I didn’t have the mental capacity because it’s so much pressure and nerves and just life coming at you, so much stimuli,” Ferreira said. “So to be able to really look deep within myself and say, ‘Okay, if I get these results then I’ll get these points, then I’ll go to the Olympics.’ So I am thinking about it more logically I would say.”

Coming off a win at Secret Garden on December 7 and placing third at Copper, Nick Goepper is also carving his path to Milano-Cortina 2026. But unlike Sochi 2014, Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022, when he competed in slopestyle and big air, he’s aiming to make the U.S. halfpipe team.

After announcing his retirement from competitive freeskiing in January 2023, Goepper was back by November of that same year. That he set his sights on making the U.S. Olympic team in arguably the most stacked discipline just underscores the 30-year-old’s competitive streak.

At Secret Garden, the U.S. team swept the podium; behind Goepper in first place and Ferreira in second was David Wise in third. And at the Copper Grand Prix, seven of the 10 freeskiers in the men’s final were American.

“I love this; I feel like a kid again,” Goepper said after his second podium finish in as many World Cups on Saturday. “That’s really why I do it, because I love it.”

Why, of all ski disciplines, is the men’s halfpipe team so dominant? Of the seven Americans in Saturday’s final, three hail from Colorado, a state that claims two 22-foot halfpipes (Aspen and Copper Mountain).

The only woman in the Copper freeski halfpipe final, Svea Irving, hails from nearby Winter Park; her brother, Birk, was one of the seven Americans in the men’s final.

Superpipes have been on the decline in the U.S.; they are costly to maintain and there are few people in the country who have the skill and experience to build them and keep them competition-ready. A third, in Mammoth, California, also frequently hosts World Cups.

About his own halfpipe dominance—he is now the first man in World Cup history with 10 halfpipe wins—Ferreira cracked, “I better be the best; I’ve got two in my hometown and there’s not that many around the world.”

Taking a more serious tone, Ferreira said he hopes U.S. halfpipe dominance continues but acknowledged that it’s crucial to invest in more programs and facilities that will attract kids to the sport.

“Our sport needs to keep growing and we need to keep getting younger people into it,” Ferreira said. “We need more training facilities like Woodward at Copper, and we need more programs. We have a lot of programs in Colorado that I think do a pretty good job, but we can always do better.”