<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Seventeen-year-old<strong> Gaon Choi </strong>(KOR) overcame windy conditions and flat light in the Copper Mountain halfpipe to secure her second consecutive World Cup victory, while <strong>Ryusei Yamada</strong> secured his first World Cup victory to lead a one-two podium finish for Japan in the men’s event.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Choi was the only rider in the women’s final on Friday to score above 90 points after recording a second run score of 94.50 when many of her competitors failed to deliver top-to-bottom runs.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 17-year-old was the top qualifier going into Friday’s final and looked to be in the driver’s seat in run one, but a fall on her final hit frontside 720 frontside grab saw her sitting on a score of 40.50 going into the second and last run.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Choi, however, would have the final say with the last drop of the women’s competition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wearing the World Cup overall leader’s jersey, Choi began her last run with a switch backside 900 mute, then a cab 720 stalefish, a frontside 900 melon, a backside 900 stalefish, before putting down the final hit frontside 720 clean to walk away with the victory.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I just (did) not think (about the pressure), I just think (about) my trick,” Choi said from the finish area after the scores had come in.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Her high score relegated <strong>Tomita’s</strong> highest score of 88.75 to second place, while 18-year-old <strong>Bea Kim</strong> (USA) claimed third place on 75.52 in what was a comeback performance after a year off due to injury.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Choi’s victory on Friday follows her season-opening win in Secret Garden last week, and gives her a total of four World Cup podiums from five starts since she made her circuit debut with a victory in Copper at the start of the 2023/24 season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tomita’s second-place finish on Friday marks her 11th podium finish after the 26-year-old wrapped up last season by winning the halfpipe finale in Calgary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China’s<strong> Cai Xuetong </strong>finished just outside the podium on Friday in fourth place, a week after the 32-year-old began the season in third place in Secret Garden – her 34th career World Cup podium.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Maddy Schaffrick</strong> (USA) wrapped up the women’s top five, while teammate <strong>Maddie Mastro </strong>was sixth.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">World Champion and double Olympic champion<strong> Chloe Kim</strong> (USA) did not start on Friday after falling heavily during practice earlier in the day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the men’s side, Japan’s <strong>Ryusei Yamada</strong> was the second teenager of the day to top his field with an identical score of 94.50 in his second run to claim his career-first World Cup win.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 19-year-old was sitting in fourth place after scoring 77.50 in the first round before drastically upping the ante in his run two with a double McTwist 1080 Japan on his first hit, followed by a switch McTwist Japan, then a frontside double 1440 mute, before finishing things off with a massive switch backside alley-oop double rodeo 900 stalefish.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yamada’s high score pushed compatriot Yuto Totsuka’s first run score of 90.50 to second place, while Australia’s Valentino Guseli - also in a comeback performance after a lengthy injury break - was third on 84.75.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After Yamada’s high-scoring run, many eyes momentarily turned to <strong>Shuichiro Shigeno </strong>(JPN) to see if he could give Japan its second consecutive podium sweep after Secret Garden, but the 20-year-old’s second run score of 81.75 was not enough to overtake <strong>Guseli</strong>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Totsuka’s</strong> second-place finish extends his record for most podiums in FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe history to 23.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Chase Blackwell</strong> (USA) finished fifth on Friday and was the only rider out of six U.S. athletes in the men’s final to score above 70 with his first run score of 79.00.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last season’s Crystal Globe winner <strong>Ruka Hirano </strong>(JPN) finished in eighth place, a week after he was runner-up in Secret Garden.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This week’s Copper World Cup marks the second of seven Halfpipe events in the 2025/26 Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup season. The third Halfpipe World Cup will be held in Calgary (CAN) between 31 December and 3 January.</div>