ASPEN, CO – Four years ago, the United States swept the men’s freeski halfpipe podium at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The qualifying session at the U.S. Grand Prix on Thursday showed that repeating the feat isn’t too far-fetched. Nor would it be surprising. The men’s halfpipe team has become the toughest ski team to make, and making the squad ahead of the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics is a dogfight.
Nick Goepper and Alex Ferreira have already clinched two of the four spots. They also finished atop their heat, with 21-year-old Aspen local Nick Geiser right behind them with a 86.00. Two-time Olympic champ David Wise also qualified for finals. Hunter Hess, Birk Irving, Tristan Feinberg, Matthew Labaugh and Aaron Blunck round out the American contingent. Great Britain’s Gus Kenworthy, a fan favorite, is also through to finals.
The Saturday final at Buttermilk is the last freeski halfpipe event of the season.
Hess has a second- and third-place finish this season, which makes him a contender for one of the final two spots. But whoever wins at Buttermilk will almost certainly take one of the last spots. If it’s Ferreira or Goepper in first place, then the standings become even more important.
Jamie Anderson makes finals
Anderson squeaked into women’s snowboard slopestyle finals by finishing seventh (the top eight advanced to finals) with a first-run score of 66.65 being good enough to get through. A strong showing during Saturday’s final would go a long way toward Anderson’s goal of completing a comeback from a brief retirement following the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
Finishing eighth, American Jessica Perlmutter also qualified for finals.
Men’s slopestyle
Red Gerard is the big American name who qualified for men’s snowboard slopestyle finals, but it was his teammates who showed out during qualifiers. Jake Canter and Brock Crouch finished first and second, respectively, in Gerard’s heat; American Justus Henkes finished fourth with a 88.50, and Gerard checked in at sixth with a 86.00. In the other heat, Dusty Henricksen finished third and Sean Fitzsimons was seventh to also advance to finals on Saturday.
What to expect on Finals Day 1
The men’s freeski slopestyle competition starts the day, with six Americans competing. They are: Hunter Henderson, Henry Townshend, Colby Stevenson, Konnor Ralph, Mac Forehand and Alex Hall.
At the halfpipe, it’s women’s snowboarding finals. Maddy Schaffrick is the lone American and will have stiff competition from a trio of Japanese riders to make the podium. But doing so would put an exclamation point on her spot ahead of the Winter Games.
On the men’s snowboard halfpipe side, Jake Pates will look to continue his momentum following a strong showing during Wednesday’s qualifying, which placed him second leading into finals. Fellow Americans Chase Josey and Ryan Wachendorfer also made finals as the spots for the Olympic team remain up for grabs.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why US men's halfpipe ski team is toughest to make for Olympics