2023 Toyota U.S. Grand Prix and Visa Big Air returns to Copper Mountain

The freeski and snowboard World Cup arrived at Copper Mountain on Wednesday with qualification rounds for the men’s and women’s freeski halfpipe and snowboard big air competitions at the U.S. Grand Prix. Several athletes with Vail-area ties competed in the event which is the longest-running winter action sports tour. Two — Riley Jacobs and and Aaron Blunck — moved into Friday’s finals.

Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin took the top spot in the women’s freeski halfpipe with a score of 91.50. American-born Eileen Gu — who has competed for China since 2019 and won big air and halfpipe gold medals (and a slopestyle silver) at the 2022 Beijing Olympics at the age of 18 — posted the second-best mark. Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club’s Hanna Faulhaber came in third with an 86.75.

Jacobs, a Ski and Snowboard Club Vail athlete, placed seventh to qualify for the eight-person finals, while her SSCV teammates Marley Leavitt and Elaina Krusiewski placed 13th and 15th, respectively.

On the men’s side, seven Americans — including two-time Olympic gold medalist David Wise, as well as SSCV alumnus Aaron Blunck, Winter Park’s Birk Irving and Aspen’s Alex Ferreira — made it into the 10-person final.

2022 Olympic slopestyle silver medalist Julia Marino squeaked into the eighth and final spot for the snowboard big air final. She’ll be joined in Friday’s final by fellow Americans Rori Avelar and Hailey Langland. Japan’s Kokomo Murase, the 2022 Olympic big air bronze medalist, posted the top result (94.75) in the field. Her countrywomen, the 16-year-old Mari Fukada (89.25) came in second. Fukada won her World Cup debut in the Copper Mountain big air event last December.

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Red Gerard was the only American to qualify into the snowboard big air final, placing fifth in heat 1 with an 89.50. The Silverthorne snowboarder is coming off a third-place finish on Dec. 9 at the FIS Style Experience Snowboard Big Air World Cup in Edmonton, Canada. SSCV’s Evan Wrobel and Brooklyn DePriest finished 51st and 52nd, respectively, in the 57-person field.

Qualification rounds continue Thursday with the freeski big air and snowboard halfpipe events. Friday and Saturday’s finals will be broadcast live at watch.outsideonline.com.