Eileen Gu tied for the most FIS Freeski World Cup wins of all time on Saturday after winning the women’s freeski halfpipe on home snow at Secret Garden as American Maddie Mastro finally claimed her first snowboard win with Austrians Marco Odermatt and Daniel Tschofenig also victorious.
– Chinese skier Gu returned to the top of the all-time FIS World Cup wins leaderboard with a 16th victory on Saturday in China with a 90 score that beat out compatriot Fanghui Li and American Svea Irving.
– The 21-year-old’s winning second run included a right cork 900 lead Buick, left cork 900 japan, right 720 lead tail, switch left 360 Japan, left alley oop flat 540 mute, and right alley oop 180 blunt.
– She revealed: “I actually had a pretty heavy slam a few days ago in training and was just recovering alone in my room for three days. I came out today and had another tough slam (in) the first round of finals, so I was really going through it mentally, fighting a lot of demons all day.”
– In terms of tying Tess Ledeux (FRA) for most FIS Freeski World Cup wins of all time, she added: “I love it, I think it’s such an honour that two women are fighting for the title in a traditionally male dominated sport.”
– On Sunday, Mastro finally claimed the first FIS Snowboard World Cup win of her career in the women’s halfpipe at Secret Garden from local hero Cai Xuetong and compatriot Maddy Schaffrick.
– The 24-year-old, who won with a second-run score of 88.75, said: “I’ve gotten a lot of seconds and a lot of thirds at these World Cups, and this is my first one on top. My God, am I happy about it.”
– Australian Scotty James had to settle for second in Sunday’s snowboard men’s halfpipe behind runaway Japanese winner Yuto Totsuka with his compatriot Ryusei Yamada back in third place.
– Ski jumper Tschofenig edged out Switzerland’s Gregor Deschwanden and German Pius Paschke for victory in Saturday’s Men’s Large Hill HS134 at Wisla in Poland. The 22-year-old claimed his first win of the 2024/25 season, after securing second and third places in the Lillehammer season opener.
– Marco Odermatt started off the 2024/25 FIS World Cup downhill season with a strong Beaver Creek showing on Friday as he finished second to fellow Swiss Justin Murisier. Odermatt was 0.20s behind his compatriot in the defence of his title with Slovenian Mika Hrobat ending up in third.
– Odermatt, 27, said: “It was a solid run, not my best yet but I did two mistakes. It was my first World Cup victory here in Beaver Creek, exactly five years ago today. So it’s always great to come back here, we love to race here. For me, it’s the best downhill we have on tour.”
– Odermatt followed up his downhill podium with a superb Saturday Super-G victory on a difficult course as he edged out France’s Cyprien Sarrazin by 0.18s with Austrian Lukas Feurstein in third.
– After earning his 38th FIS World Cup career victory – almost five years to the day from winning his first at Beaver Creek – he said: “Today was a very difficult one, it was already a little bit bumpy from the top and then you had to really ski smart from the middle section. I would never have dreamed about this. Beaver Creek is always a special place for me.”
– Sunday’s Beaver Creek giant slalom saw Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen nearly pull off a superb victory on his comeback from retirement thanks to an excellent second run, only for Swiss skier Thomas Tumler to edge him out for his first ever FIS World Cup victory by just 0.12s leaving Slovenian Žan Kranjec in third.
– Pinheiro Braathen now leads the 2024/25 FIS World Cup giant slalom standings by one point after two races from Norway’s Alexander Steen Olsen.
– Austrian Johannes Lamparter snagged a podium place with third in Saturday’s Men’s Gundersen Normal Hill HS98/10,0 Km at Lillehammer behind Norway’s Jarl Magnus Riiber and German Julian Schmid in a photo finish. The 23-year-old, who returned to full fitness after a difficult off-season, revealed: “I am still struggling a bit on the hill, but it was a really good cross-country performance and a really nice fight with Julian.”
– Sunday’s Men’s Individual Compact Large Hill HS140/7,5 Km at Lillehammer saw German Vinzenz Geiger defeat compatriot Schmid in a photo finish with Riiber following them home in third place.
– Geiger, who banked his second Nordic Combined victory of the season, said: “Really nice day. It was a perfect job from Julian, we did great team-work, and first place in Jarl’s home area is really amazing.”
