CHONGLI, China: China’s veteran Olympians Cai Xuetong and Liu Jiayu clinched the top two spots in the FIS women’s snowboard Halfpipe World Cup held at the Genting Snow Park here on Friday.
Cai claimed the title with a best score of 93.25 points from her third run, followed by Liu with 85.75 and Maddie Mastro of the United States with 85.50.
“The World Cup level competitions require athletes to showcase full capabilities. I feel this time I was very close to performing perfectly, so I’m very happy,” said Cai, who has featured at four Winter Olympic Games.
In the men’s competition, Scotty James of Australia won the gold with a score of 91.25 points, followed by Japan’s Ruka Hirano with 88.25 and South Korea’s rising star Lee Chaeun, born in 2006, with 87.50.
Wang Ziyang, the only men’s snowboarder from China to reach the finals, finishing sixth with 73.50.
“I think I performed at my expected level in the first run today. Actually, I planned to try a 1,080 action during the competition, but finally I chose to finish safely,” said Wang.
Also at Genting Snow Park, the 2023-2024 FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Cup finals will be staged on Saturday.
