Shaun White headlines halfpipe qualifier

Shaun White and David Sensible are again within the halfpipe for Olympic qualifying occasions, Mikaela Shiffrin makes an attempt to take care of her lead as Alpine snowboarding’s total World Cup chief, and Erin Jackson (pace skating) and Kaillie Humphries (bobsled) look to proceed their scorching begins this season. Here is what’s taking place this weekend (December 10-12) on the highway to the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Snowboard Halfpipe

The primary of three 2021-22 FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cups takes place at Copper Mountain in Frisco, Colorado, concurrently kicking off the season’s U.S. Grand Prix tour. It’s additionally the second of 4 U.S. Olympic choice occasions for snowboard halfpipe within the leadup to February’s Olympics.

Three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White headlines the lads’s subject. The 35-year-old American looking for a fifth Video games berth final competed in March, placing fourth at the U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen. That look ended a three-year hiatus courting again to his dramatic victory at the 2018 PyeongChang Games. As much as two males and two girls can qualify for the U.S. halfpipe workforce by being within the high six of the world rankings, however podium finishes at choice occasions present a second pathway for athletes to make the workforce (which may have a most of 4 males and 4 girls).

Maybe the true season-opener headliners, although, are the Japanese powerhouse contingent of reigning world and X Video games champion Yuto Totsuka, two-time Olympic silver medalist Ayumu Hirano, 2020 Youth Olympic gold medalist Ruka Hirano (no relation to Ayumu) and 2018 Olympian Raibu Katayama. In his first main contest because the final Winter Olympics, Ayumu Hirano posted the best rating in qualifying, whereas his Japanese teammates made up the remainder of the highest 4. White completed qualifying in ninth however superior to the ultimate together with U.S. teammates Chase Josey and Taylor Gold.

One huge query: will we see a triple cork? Totsuka, Ruka Hirano and Ayumu Hirano all landed the trick in preseason camps, and White is nicely conscious it is one thing he’ll probably want to beat and grasp earlier than February if he desires a fourth gold.

The ladies’s last is led by two-time world champion Cai Xuetong of China and 2020 X Video games champion Queralt Castellet of Spain. U.S. stars Chloe Kim and Maddie Mastro didn’t enter this week’s occasion.

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Freeski Halfpipe

The primary of three 2021-22 FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Cups takes place at Copper Mountain in Frisco, Colorado, concurrently kicking off the season’s U.S. Grand Prix tour. It’s additionally considered one of 5 U.S. Olympic choice occasions for ski halfpipe within the leadup to February’s Olympics. As much as two males and two girls can qualify for the U.S. halfpipe workforce by being within the high six of the world rankings, however podium finishes at choice occasions present a second pathway for athletes to make the workforce (which may have a most of 4 males and 4 girls).

New Zealand’s Nico Porteous, the present Olympic favourite, had the best rating in qualifying for the lads, whereas two-time reigning Olympic gold medalist David Sensible was considered one of 5 Individuals to advance to Friday’s 10-skier last. Aaron Blunck, who posted the highest rating in his warmth, will be part of teammate Sensible there together with 2018 Olympic silver medalist Alex Ferreira, Lyman Currier and Birk Irving.

The ladies’s subject is headlined by youngsters Kelly Sildaru of Estonia and Eileen Gu of China, who had the highest two scores in qualifying. American Brita Sigourney, the 2018 Olympic bronze medalist, certified third and will probably be joined within the last by 17-year-old compatriot Hanna Faulhaber.

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Alpine Snowboarding

The Alpine Snowboarding World Cup returns to European snow for back-to-back days of ladies’s super-G in Switzerland. Mikaela Shiffrin enters the season’s sixth vacation spot as the general World Cup chief, however Italian pace specialist and 2018 Olympic downhill gold medalist Sofia Goggia is shortly closing the hole. Goggia swept all three races (two downhill and one super-G) final weekend in Canada and can look to increase her successful streak within the Swiss Alps.

American Breezy Johnson additionally has momentum on her facet, placing second in both downhill events final weekend. She has by no means made the rostrum in any self-discipline apart from downhill however might change that this weekend. Tremendous-G consists of related speeds to downhill however requires a bit extra technical talent within the turns.

Swiss star Lara Intestine-Behrami may have her sights set on a podium-filled weekend in entrance of her residence followers.

In the meantime, 250 miles to the southwest, the world’s elite male ski racers will sq. off in Val d’Isere, France, in big slalom and slalom.

24-year-old Swiss phenom Marco Odermatt leads the general standings and has an opportunity to point out off his technical means within the season’s first slalom race, having received the primary GS occasion of the season.

2021 total champion Alexis Pinturault has gotten his title protection off to a sluggish begin and will probably be motivated to seize his first podiums of the season on residence snow. American skiers should not anticipated to issue into the rostrum dialogue.

Velocity Skating

For its last vacation spot forward of the 2022 Winter Olympics, the ISU Velocity Skating World Cup heads to Alberta. Erin Jackson has been the most dominant sprinter – male or feminine – on the planet because the season started final month, successful 4 of the six 500m occasions, together with a minimum of one win in any respect three World Cup stops. Ought to she proceed that streak, she’d enter the Winter Olympics because the prohibitive favourite within the 500m occasion.

Fellow American Brittany Bowe will try and return to the highest step of the rostrum within the 1000m distance after being relegated to 3rd final weekend in Salt Lake Metropolis. Previous to that, Bowe had won the first two World Cup stops outright.

On the lads’s facet, Joey Mantia enters off an exhilarating weekend in Utah, notching an individual win in the 1500m and in addition main the US to first within the workforce pursuit. Apparently, the Floridian has but to log a podium end within the mass begin, an occasion through which he’s a three-time world champion.

Bobsled & Skeleton

The 2021-22 IBSF World Cup reaches its official midway level this weekend in Winterberg, Germany, at its fourth cease. Male athletes may have the chance to compete in two four-man races as a substitute of 1 two-man and one four-man, because the January cease in Sigulda, Latvia, can solely host the two-man occasion.

The Netherlands’ Kimberley Bos (girls’s skeleton) and Germany’s Christopher Grotheer (males’s skeleton), Laura Nolte (two-woman bobsled) and Francesco Friedrich (two-man and four-man bobsled) lead the World Cup standings by way of the primary three stops.

American Elana Meyers Taylor leads the ladies’s monobob rankings. However final weekend in Altenberg, it was fellow U.S. star Kaillie Humphries who swept the ladies’s bobsled races — two days after officially becoming an American citizen at a ceremony in San Diego, California.

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Luge

The 2021-22 Luge World Cup heads to Altenberg, Germany, this weekend for its first cease in Central Europe after an occasion in China and two in Russia. The 175 athletes anticipated to race hail from 27 international locations.

Brothers Andris and Juris Sic lead the doubles contest by way of the primary three stops, whereas Germany’s Julia Taubitz and Johannes Ludwig lead the ladies’s and males’s rankings, respectively. The Latvian brothers have made the rostrum on the final 9 straight World Cups — that features 4 wins, two second-place and three third-place finishes.

On the final World Cup cease in Sochi, American Olympic silver medalist Chris Mazdzer completed twentieth in singles and thirteenth in doubles as he makes his comeback from breaking his foot in September.

Snowboard Cross & Alpine Snowboarding

The second of eight World Cup occasions for snowboard cross takes place at Silvretta Montafon ski space in Vorarlberg, Austria, and it’s additionally the primary of three stops on the combined workforce circuit. Swiss-born Austrian Alessandro Haemmerle and Eva Samkova of the Czech Republic received the individual-event season openers at Secret Backyard, the 2022 Olympic venue. American Nick Baumgartner took third there within the males’s huge last.

Samkova, final season’s crystal globe winner, led girls’s qualifying on Thursday by practically two seconds, the one rider to dip beneath the one-minute mark. Reigning world champion Charlotte Bankes of Nice Britain and reigning Olympic gold medalist Michela Moioli of Italy can even be within the subject.

On the lads’s facet, Haemmerle’s compatriot Lukas Pachner posted the quickest qualifying time. Haemmerle himself certified into the finals as nicely, whereas 4 Individuals (Baumgartner, 2019 world champion Mick Dierdorff, Michael Perle and Mike Lacroix) additionally made it into the 32-rider subject.

The primary of 10 World Cup stops for Alpine snowboarding takes place at Bannoye ski resort close to Magnitogorsk, Russia, with each parallel big slalom (PGS) and parallel slalom (PSL) occasions in motion.

Within the girls’s subject, Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister is an early season favourite to defend her total title however might be pushed by 18-year-old Russian Sophia Nadyrshina this 12 months. Czech Ester Ledecka, winner of the 2018 Olympic PGS gold, is a contender any time she competes however will probably be splitting her time between snowboarding and Alpine snowboarding this season.

Russian Dmitri Loginov is already a three-time world champion at 21 years previous and will probably be among the many favorites on the lads’s facet this 12 months.

Freestyle Snowboarding

The second of eight World Cup stops for moguls takes place at Idre Fjall ski resort in Idre, Sweden. Final week’s season opener noticed an anticipated win from reigning Olympic and world champion Mikael Kingsbury of Canada and a moderately stunning victory from American Olivia Giaccio.

The 2021-22 FIS Aerials World Cup circuit stays at Ruka ski resort in Kuusamo, Finland, for a second week of competitors. Russian Maxim Burov, the two-time reigning world champion, received each males’s occasions within the opener, and China did the identical on the ladies’s facet with victories from Kong Fanyu and Xu Megntao.

The second of 9 ski cross World Cup stops takes place at French Alps ski resort Val Thorens. The opener, held two weeks in the past at this winter’s Olympic venue Secret Backyard, noticed 2018 Olympic bronze medalist Russian Sergey Ridzik and two-time world champion Sandra Naeslund of Sweden declare victories. Lacking from that contest was 2014 Olympic gold medalist and 2019 world champion Marielle Thompson of Canada, who makes her season debut with 4 wins on the venue. For the lads, Canada has had probably the most success in races previous.

Cross-Nation Snowboarding

The second of a minimum of 14 cross-country snowboarding World Cups this season takes place at Davos Klosters ski resort in Davos, Switzerland, with 4 complete occasions all in freestyle method at excessive altitude: males’s and girls’s particular person sprints, a males’s 15km and a girls’s 10km. American Rosie Brennan, third within the 10km free ultimately weekend’s Lillehammer World Cup, captured each occasion wins ultimately season’s Davos cease. Fellow American Jessie Diggins can be set to compete in each of the ladies’s occasions, recent off a runner-up end in Lillehammer’s dash free. Norwegian Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and Russian Alexander Bolshunov, high two in total standing by way of six occasions, are anticipated to proceed their scorching begins to the season within the males’s occasions.

Biathlon

The second cease and third stage of the IBU Biathlon World Cup takes place on the Biathlon Middle in Hochfilzen, Austria, and options six occasions with males’s and girls’s sprints (10km/7.5km), pursuits (12.5km/10km) and relays (4×7.5km/4x6km). Austrian Lisa Theresa Hauser, winner of the ladies’s 7.5km dash ultimately weekend’s Ostersund World Cup, and Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen of Norway, who took first in Ostersund’s males’s 12.5km pursuit, have the yellow bibs. Hauser’s compatriot Tiril Eckhoff, reigning world champion in each occasions, remains to be looking for success this season – she was the dash and pursuit occasions’ victor ultimately season’s Hochfilzen World Cup.

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Ski Leaping

The 2021-22 FIS Ski Leaping World Cup takes over the massive hill at Vogtland Enviornment in Klingenthal, Germany. It’s an opportunity for present yellow bib wearer Karl Geiger to increase his total lead on residence soil.