It was a good weekend for halfpipe riders Scotty James and Kelly Clark; at South Korea’s Bokwang Phoenix Park, they took the top spots in this winter’s final FIS Halfpipe World Cup contest.
With the Winter Olympics taking place at the same venue in one year’s time, the event doubled up as a dry run for the five-ring circus. A lot can happen in twelve months, but these test events are a decent indicator of who’s in the running for a medal.
By all accounts the pipe was in good condition, despite some warm weather and even a little rain. Hopefully this means that the South Koreans are on track to avoid the horrorshow that was the Sochi halfpipe, a slush-tastic mess that barely made the grade.
“Even in the twilight of her competitive career, Kelly Clark is capable of batting away the competition with ease”
It’s no surprise to see Aussie favourite Scotty James on the top step again – at the 2017 X Games he showed that he’s up there with the biggest names in the discipline. Not only did he win this standalone event, he also took home the overall FIS World Cup trophy (having earned the most ‘Race Points’ – seriously, FIS, would it be that hard to change how you name your scoring system for freestyle events?)
A Kelly Clark victory isn’t much of a shock either; even in the twilight of her competitive career she’s capable of batting away the competition with ease. The overall title wasn’t to be hers, however; despite failing to get on the podium at this event, Chloe Kim did enough to top the standings.
