Kim and Josey Favorites at PyeongChang Pipe

BOKWANG PHOENIX PARK, South Korea (Feb. 16, 2017) – The FIS halfpipe World Cup tour culminates this week with the official test event for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games.

The halfpipe riders are the final athletes to visit the Bokwang Phoenix Park in South Korea, and the buzz going around amongst riders is that the Olympic halfpipe is one of the best in the world.

All eyes are on Chloe Kim (Torrance, CA), who won the first two stops of the World Cup Tour at the Copper Mountain Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in December and LAAX Open in January. Kim could secure her first crystal globe if she bests China’s Jiayu Liu in South Korea. Also keep an eye on Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) who made a huge step in her comeback from hip surgery with a win at the Mammoth Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in early February.

The men’s race for the crystal globe is a bit more up in the air, as each contest this season has been won by a different athlete. Chase Josey (Hailey, ID) leads the charge after a fantastic win at the LAAX Open in January that included a record-breaking five consecutive doubles. Shaun White (Carlsbad, CA) also has a shot at the title after winning at the Mammoth Toyota U.S. Grand Prix earlier this month.

Qualifying for the snowboard halfpipe event is scheduled for Friday at 9:05 a.m. local time at Bokwang Phoenix Park (3:05 p.m. Thursday EST). Finals will be at 1 p.m. Sunday (7 p.m. Saturday EST). Live scoring is available on the FIS live timing site for qualifiers and the finals will be live streamed on NBCsports.com/live. 

HIGHLIGHTS

• The final stop of the FIS World Cup halfpipe tour will also serve as the official Olympic test event for the 2018 Olympic Games.
• Chase Josey leads the race for the men’s Crystal Globe going into the event.  
• Chloe Kim leads the race for the women’s Crystal Globe going into the event.
• Stream the finals on NBCsports.com/live on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. EST.

QUOTES

Shaun White
It’s a dry run, a full test run of what it’s gonna be like—what the halfpipe build is gonna be like, at what time of the day is the sun shining through and which wall is sunny, which wall is not, what the snow conditions are like—everything. We do a full-on event.