Irving Wins Toyota U.S. Grand Prix Halfpipe
Birk Irving took the big win at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe to close out the weekend of events at Copper Mountain. Sister Svea Irving was just off the podium in fourth place.
It was Irving’s third win at Copper, who hails from just down the road at Winter Park, Colorado, but his first win since 2019. “I’ve gotten a few World Cup wins before, but this one hits a little different,” said Birk. “Home turf, whole family is here—it feels really good. It’s awesome.”
Two Canadians stood on the podium with Birk: Brandon MacKay in second and Noah Bowman in third.
Irving threw a huge third run to burst onto the top spot and held it. His run featured a switch left 10 blunt, a massive right dub 12 Japan, left dub 14 safety, switch right 7 tail and a left double down the pipe high safety. His last trick thrilled both the crowd and his competitors alike, with a progressive blocked 720.
“It’s like a double Michalchuk 7,” said Birk. “It’s like a pretzel flip—so it’s kinda weird. I’ve done it a few times before. I had it in my head today, but I wasn’t sure I was going to need it, but at third run I was like, yeah I’m definitely going to need it!”
The competition was fierce, with a number of men vying for the top three. Alex Ferreira stood on the podium throughout the comp, but was bumped off in the last run and took fourth. Hunter Hess finished eighth.
Svea also threw down two solid runs, but just missed the podium, taking fourth. But she stood with the team at the base of the pipe to support her brother in first. Behind Svea, Hanna Faulhaber was sixth, Brita Sigourney seventh and Carly Margulies eighth. Margulies fell first run and did not start the last two runs.
Rachel Karker of Canada was first with teammate Amy Fraser second. Kelly Sildaru of Estonio was third.
The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix wrapped the weekend of events at Copper with the freeskiers now looking toward slopestyle in Font Romeu, France after the new year.
Be sure to tune into the tape-delayed broadcast of the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix and Visa Big Air presented by Toyota at Copper Mountain on Sunday, Dec. 18 and Christmas Eve.
RESULTS
Women’s halfpipe
Men’s halfpipe
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST - Please refer to this link for most up-to-date schedule.
Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022
12:30 p.m. - Toyota U.S. Grand Prix snowboard halfpipe finals - tape delayed on NBC and simulcasted on Peacock
4:30 p.m. - Visa Big Air presented by Toyota freeski and snowboard finals - tape delayed on NBC and simulcasted on Peacock
Saturday, Dec. 24, 2022
5:00 p.m. - Toyota U.S. Grand Prix freeski halfpipe finals - tape delayed on NBC and simulcasted on Peacock
