PyeongChang Winter Olympics Recap: Women’s Halfpipe

It was a monumental day for the sport of women’s halfpipe skiing at Phoenix Snow Park in South Korea, where every woman who dropped in helped push the sport to the next level. Three American women made it to the finals, including defending Gold Medalist Maddie Bowman of South Lake Tahoe, Calif, number one qualifier Brita Sigourney of Carmel, Calif., and Annalisa Drew of Andover, Mass.

Sigourney and Drew pushed each other hard, culminating with Drew being overtaken in the last run by Sigourney for third place. Sigourney’s high-flying third run score of 91.60 earned bronze, and falling only a single point behind silver medalist Marie Martinod of France. Canadian Cassie Sharpe’s second run proved unbeatable, however, as she took home the gold with a score of 95.80.

“I’ve never seen such a high level of women in our sport,” said Sigourney in a press conference after the competition.

Defending gold medalist Maddie Bowman couldn’t quite put her run together in finals and had a nerve-wracking, helmet-shattering crash she was able to ski away from. She would end up eleventh overall, but continued to support her teammates as they had done for her in Sochi.

“It’s so awesome to have support from the other women’s halfpipe competitors,” said Sigourney. “It was great to have Maddie supporting me in the start gate like I supported her in Sochi. It really was a team effort”

Wednesday in PyeongChang will be all about the Alpine women, with Lindsey Vonn, Alice McKennis, Breezy Johnson, and Laurenne Ross all on the Team USA Downhill start list. Due to a schedule change, Mikaela Shiffrin will not compete in the downhill and will instead focus on the Alpine Combined, which was rescheduled to take place on Thursday in South Korea instead of Friday due to the potential for another round of high winds.

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