Double Olympic Halfpipe champion and Beijing 2022 silver medalist David Wise comes to Copper hoping to improve on his 12th place finish in Secret Garden on 13 December. Wise was fifth in Copper last year after previously winning the event in 2014 and 2017. Wise was also the third skier alongside runner-up Ferreira and winner Goepper on the Secret Garden podium in 2024, the first of two U.S. podium sweeps last World Cup season.
Hunter Hess was the only U.S. skier to finish on the podium in Secret Garden last week with third place, followed by Birk Irving in fourth, Matthew Labaugh in fifth, and Nick Geiser in sixth. Labaugh was the top qualifier going into the final, and last season the 21-year-old finished third in Aspen to give the USA its second podium sweep of the season alongside Ferreira in first place and Goepper in second. Labaugh’s Aspen result marked his first World Cup podium out of 22 starts since his tour debut in 2021.
Secret Garden winner Finley Melville Ives and fellow New Zealander and Secret Garden runner-up Luke Harrold will not compete in Copper. The U.S. delegation’s main challengers in Copper are Canada’s Andrew Longino and Dylan Marineau, who finished seventh and 15th respectively in Secret Garden. Fellow Canadian and 2023 World Champion Brendan Mackay is not competing in Copper after the 28-year-old finished last in the 14-man final in Secret Garden.
On the women’s side, last season’s joint women’s Halfpipe Crystal Globe winner Zoe Atkin (GBR) leads the field of 25 women in Copper. The 22-year-old British skier comes to Copper buoyed by her second-place finish in Secret Garden behind double Olympic champion Eileen Gu, who will not contest the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix this week. Fellow Chinese skier Li Fanghui shared the 2024/25 Halfpipe Globe with Atkin but began the new season with ninth place in Secret Garden. Teammate Zhang Kexin finished fifth in Secret Garden after previously winning the 2018 and 2017 editions.
