Ferreira Wins Winter Games NZ Halfpipe
CARDRONA, New Zealand (Sept. 1, 2017) – Alex Ferreira (Aspen, CO) walked away from the first halfpipe competition of the season with a win at Winter Games NZ on Friday.
After qualifiers were delayed Thursday due to low visibility, the scheduled was switched up on Friday with the men competing in qualifying heats and the women going straight to finals.
Ferreira crushed his runs on the 22-foot superpipe at Cardrona Alpine Resort, taking the top qualifying spot and maintaining it through finals. Even though his first final run would have won him the comp, he went for a victory lap and executed clean tricks and huge amplitude.
“I’m just super happy to land it,” said Ferreira. “I was just going for big air and good clean grabs, just good smooth skiing, something for spectators.”
Alex Ferreira competes in the Winter Games NZ pipe. (Iain McGregor)
Kevin Rolland of France was second and Simon d’Artois of Canada was third to round out the podium. Hunter Hess (Bend, OR) and Birk Irving (Winter Park, CO) also cracked the top 10, taking seventh and eighth, respectively.
Cassie Sharpe of Canada won the women’s halfpipe. After winning the World Games NZ slopestyle last week, 15-year-old Kelly Sildaru of Estonia was second and the 2016-17 FIS halfpipe World Cup globe winner Marie Martinod of France was third. Annalisa Drew (Andover, MA) was the top American finisher, just off the podium in fourth. Also in the top 10, Carly Margulies (Mammoth Lakes, CA) was fifth, Maddie Bowman (South Lake Tahoe, CA) sixth and Brita Sigourney (Carmel, CA) 10th.
Alex Ferreira
Aspen native Alex Ferreira jumpstarted his freeskiing career with a bronze-medal performance on his hometown turf at X Games Aspen in 2014. Since then Ferreira has gone on to earn to earn two additional X Games medals and a handful of World Cup podiums. In 2018, Ferreira took his game to a whole new level, winning the silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games, another silver medal at X Games, and then followed that up with the 2018 World Cup halfpipe title. In 2022, Ferreira shined again and took home bronze at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.