Leadville’s Jason Wolle qualifies to the men’s snowboard halfpipe final at Day 1 of Copper’s U.S. Grand Prix

Brie Cooper/U.S. Ski and Snowboard
As skiers and riders excitedly loaded lifts to explore the fresh dusting of snowfall at Copper Mountain Resort on Wednesday, Dec. 18, the first day of the 2024 Toyota U.S. Grand Prix officially kicked off.
Taking place within the icy walls of Copper’s 22-foot-tall halfpipe, the U.S. Grand Prix is an annual competition featuring professional freeskiers and snowboarders.
Routinely attracting Olympic champions as well as talent from the state of Colorado, the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper serves as one of the biggest domestic World Cup competitions each winter season.
Men’s snowboard halfpipe
The first day of competition was spearheaded by the first athlete in the men’s snowboard halfpipe qualifiers. With over 40 athletes spread out between two heats, riders vied for one of the 10 spots in the final on Friday, Dec. 20.
2022 Olympic silver medalist Scotty James of Australia was the first athlete to drop into the halfpipe. Sporting his signature red boxing gloves, James started his run with a switch McTwist. The huge first trick set James up for a great run, setting the standard for the rest of the field with a score of 85.
Leadville’s Jason Wolle soon followed James. On his first of two runs for the day, Wolle got huge amplitude out of the pipe but failed to fully execute on the run.
With James leading the field in heat one, 2022 Olympic gold medalist Ayumu Hirano attempted to perform a run that would shoot him within the top three. Hirano used his first hit of the pipe to show why he is one of the best halfpipe riders in the world, flying high above the deck.
Hirano continued to add points to his run further down the pipe but bobbled a little on his final trick. The minor mistake earned Hirano a score of 74, which was enough for him to sit in third after the first round of runs.
Sitting a place ahead of Hirano in second after the first round of runs was 22-year-old Joey Okesson of Southbury, Connecticut. Okesson wasted no time warming up into the competition, landing technical tricks and wowing the growing crowd at the bottom of the pipe. The run was awarded a score of 78.66 from the judges.

With James at the top of the results, the seasoned rider chose to stay conservative on his second run of the day. James landed another big McTwist at the top of the pipe but opted to do some style tricks to finish out the run.
Needing to up his score if he wanted to advance to the final, Wolle had a better second run. Flying high out of the pipe and using the last hit to land a 1080, Wolle upped his score from 35.66 to 78. The score shot Wolle from ninth to third, giving him a chance of making his second-consecutive final at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper.
With much of the field yet to take their second run, Wolle stood at the bottom of the pipe and waited to see if he would finish within the top five.
Now out of a qualifying position, Hirano went massive on his final run of the day, going 15 to 20 feet out of the pipe and stringing together a frontside double 1080 and a backside 900. The run was more than enough for Hirano to earn a spot in the final, scoring an 87 to move ahead of James at the top of the results.
With Hirano and James firmly leading the field, Okesson improved upon his first run by a few points, but did not shake up the top two. Instead, Okesson qualified in the third spot with a score of 81.33.
After sweating it out, Wolle held onto the fourth qualifying spot, (78.00) and Japan’s Shuichiro Shigeno took fifth (77). Hirano led the heat with a score of 87, while James took second with a score of 85.
“Copper has always had a real special place in my heart,” Wolle said. “I have been coming here for years and years and years, and its almost indescribable the feeling of being able to compete against the best for another year in a row — giving it another shot so close to the Olympics. I would like to keep this momentum going into Friday.”

After a brief warmup period, the second heat of riders took to the pipe. Wanting to qualify to the final, Leadville’s Chase Blackwell and Summit County resident Lucas Foster landed impressive tricks on their first runs.
Foster was the first of the two local competitors to drop into the halfpipe. The Telluride product performed a frontside 900 on his first hit of the halfpipe wall before falling further down the pipe.
Blackwell on the other hand put together a clean run from top to bottom. Starting the run with an impressive switch backside 720, Blackwell earned a score of 70 to sit in fourth going into the second round of runs.
Ahead of Blackwell was Japan’s Yuto Totsuka in third (82.33) and Ruka Hirano in second (85.66). Leading the field was Chaeun Lee of Korea who dazzled the crowd with his first run, earning a score of 90.
By the time Blackwell dropped in for his second run, he had been pushed from fourth to sixth. Knowing he needed to improve by at least 14 points to make the final, Blackwell went for it on his last run.
The former Dillon resident landed all of his tricks at the top of the halfpipe before falling while trying to bring around a final trick. The late fall kept Blackwell from the final, placing sixth with a top run score of 70. Foster was also not able to put a clean second run together, placing 14th with a score of 34.
Hailey, Idaho’s Chase Josey was the top American in heat two. Bouncing back from a fall on his first run, Josey earned the final qualifying spot with a score of 83.33. Josey was preceded by Japan’s Ryusei Yamada in fourth (83.66), Totsuka in third (84), Hirano in second (85.66) and Lee in first (90).
Women’s snowboard halfpipe
Taking place simultaneously alongside the men’s snowboard halfpipe qualifiers was the women’s snowboard halfpipe qualifiers.
Leading heat one was 2022 Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim.
After deciding to focus on her mental health in the wake of the 2022 Olympics, Kim knocked off some of the dust that may have settled, stomping a backside 360, a switch backside air and a McTwist on her first time down the pipe.
The run earned the Torrance, California native a score of 84.66, which was good enough for her to lead heat one after the first round.
Nearly eight points behind Kim was Mitsuki Ono of Japan. Ono — a 2022 Olympian — earned a score of 76 to maintain second place after the first round of runs while Germany’s Leilani Ettle sat in third with a score of 69.33.
Instead of settling for her first run score, Kim improved upon her score on her second run. Highlighted by a switch method, Kim upped her score to 90 to firmly solidify her at the top of Heat 1.
Sonora Alba of San Pedro, California, tried to earn a score to get her into the final, but she came up a few points short, taking sixth with a score of 59.
It was Ettel who earned the final qualifying spot in heat one (69.33). Ono took fourth (76), Japan’s Sena Tomita finished in third (78.66) and China’s Xuetong Cai took second (82).

The second heat of competitors in the women’s snowboard halfpipe competition was just as exciting. With eight Americans vying for one of the five qualifying spots, the action was fiery from start to finish.
Fresh off her first World Cup win of her career at Secret Garden, China, Maddie Mastro of Wrightwood, California, confidently took to the halfpipe at Copper. On her first run, Mastro landed a crippler, a backside 540 and a frontside 540 to earn a score of 74.33.
Steamboat Springs’ Rochelle “Rocke” Weinberg also had a standout first run. In her first World Cup, Weinberg rose to the occasion, landing a stylish run and scoring a 50.
However, it was Madeline Schaffrick of Steamboat Springs that was the top American after the first of two runs. Following a third-place finish in Secret Garden, Schaffrick earned a score of 80 to rank second overall going into the second round of runs while Japan’s Sara Shimizu led the field with a score of 85.33.
Sitting in third, Mastro tried to clean up her run in order to seal her spot in the final. Similar to her first run, Mastro performed a crippler on the first hit of the pipe before landing a frontside 720 and a stylish 540 stalefish.
As she moved further down the pipe though, Mastro landed high on the pipe, bounced off the deck, but stayed on her feet. The bobble at the end of the run kept Mastro from improving upon her first run, and she was forced to wait to see if she would hold onto a qualifying spot.
After returning from nearly a 10-year hiatus from competition last winter, Schaffrick managed to add three points to her first run score of 80, but it was not enough to top Shimizu in first place.
Several competitors threatened to push Mastro from the top five, but the veteran rider hung on to third place (74.33), successfully advancing to the final. Shimizu won the second heat of qualifiers (85.33), Schaffrick took second (83), Spain’s Queralt Castellet finished in fourth (72) and China’s Shaotong Wu finished in fifth (71).
The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix will continue on Thursday, Dec. 19, with qualifiers in the men’s and women’s freeski halfpipe. The women will begin their runs at 9:30 a.m. with the men slated for an 11:55 a.m. start.
Spectating is free and open to the public for the entirety of the U.S. Grand Prix and the X Games Street Style Pro event. The four-day event runs through Saturday, Dec. 21.

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