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American Wise leads men, Zhang of China leads women at U.S. Grand Prix ski qualifiers at Copper

Pavel Chupa of Russia competes in the U.S. Grand Prix ski halfpipe event for qualifiers Wednesday, Dec. 6, at Copper Mountain.
Hugh Carey / hcarey@summitdaily.com |

The qualification stage for Friday’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix ski halfpipe final took place at Copper Mountain Resort Wednesday, as 10 halfpipe skiers on the men’s side and eight on the women’s side qualified for Friday’s final.

David Wise and Torin Yater-Wallace, each of the United States, led the way for the men, each finishing at the top of their heats with scores of 92.60 and 87.40 respectively.

Looking to best them on Friday will be the top competition from Wednesday’s qualifiers, including Mike Riddleof Canada, who recorded a score of 86.40, Nico Porteous of New Zealand (90.60) and Birk Irving of the United States (89.20).



On the women’s side, Kexin Zhang of China finished Wednesday in first place after posting a score of 86.66. Marie Martinod of France won her heat with a score of 82.33 and figures to be top competition for Martinod on Friday.

Those two will be joined by a group of American skiers who performed well on Wednesday, including Maddie Bowman (79.33), Devin Logan, (84.66) and Brita Sigourney (79.00).


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