Kiwi Luke Harrold also qualified in third position.
In yesterday’s qualification round, 40 men battled it out for a spot in the 10-man final, and 23 women hunted for a spot in the eight-woman final.
Top women’s qualifier Eileen Gu, the reigning Olympic gold medalist and 2024 X Games winner, put her mark on the competition from her first hit. She put down an impressive run, with trademark huge back-to-back 900s on her first two hits and finished with a massive alley oop flat 540 mute grab on her final hit to score a 92.00.
Despite leading the charge after run one, Gu still gave it everything for her second run, replacing a switch 360 with a switch 720 to bump her score up to 95.50 and qualify for the finals as the only woman to post a score in the 90s. Zhang Kexin, of China, the 2019 Winter Games NZ Freeski Halfpipe World Cup winner, also qualified for the finals in third position.
The men’s qualification was split into two heats, with 20 men per heat. Alex Ferreira, of the United States, took the top spot in the heat one qualification round, looking to continue his exceptional season last year, when he won seven out of seven events and took home the FIS Crystal Globe. Ferreira’s run included both right and left double corked 1260s and plenty of amplitude.
Heat two was just as heavily stacked, with Wānaka local Melville Ives taking the top spot with an impressive run that included five different directions of rotations and four different hugely technical double corked tricks, all performed with great amplitude and solid grabs throughout.
Melville Ives’ compatriot ,Harrold, of Lake Hāwea, was also in heat two and qualified through to finals in third position. Harrold finished his run with rarely seen, exceptionally technical tricks — back-to-back switch alley oop flat double cork 900s.
The FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Cup finals are set to take place tomorrow at Cardrona Alpine Resort.
