BRECKENRIDGE — Aspen halfpipe skier Alex Ferreira took a major step toward the PyeongChang Olympics on Friday, besting his best pals to win the Olympic qualifier at Breckenridge’s 10th Dew Tour.
On a gargantuan final run, the 23-year-old eked past Crested Butte’s Aaron Blunck with four double-flipping tricks that appeared to defy both gravity and physics.
“Thatap the sport these days. Itap technical. Itap big. Itap scary. Itap not for the weak-hearted thatap for sure,” said Ferreira, unable to suppress a beaming grin. “I’ve been working on that run since two years ago. To be able to put it down … I don’t care about the result. Hands down, itap the best day of my life. That was my best halfpipe run ever.”
Frenchman Kevin Rolland took third, spinning a solid double-cork 1440. In probably the most technical display ever seen in the halfpipe, America’s top skiers displayed stoic resolve under pressure, a characteristic U.S. coaches are looking for as they push athletes through a grueling qualification process. After the Dew Tour pipe contest – the third of five U.S. Olympic qualifying competitions — the ski team has started to take shape with Basaltap Torin Yater Wallace, Ferreira and Sochi gold medalist David Wise leading a stacked field with each boasting a qualifying win. Blunck, Avon’s Taylor Seaton and Telluride’s Gun Kenworthy have each found a top-three finish. But to lock down a spot on the U.S. Ski Team’s Olympic halfpipe squad, skiers need to climb two podiums. The tense qualifying tests continue next month in Snowmass and Mammoth.
The pressure was high here Friday under bluebird skies. Wise, a technician known for his consistency, struggled to stay smooth and missed his chance to become the first U.S. skier to lock an Olympic berth. Yater Wallace, aiming for his second Olympics, dug deep for his final run and squeezed five hits into the halfpipe, compared to the four monster tricks he spun on his previous two runs and last weekend at Copper Mountain’s Grand Prix.
Blunck, , linked two switch (backwards) tricks – a switch left side double-cork 900 into a switch right side double cork 1080 – on his second run to take the lead. Ferreira, who fell on his first run, followed with four doubles on his second lap down the pipe to reach second. On his final run, he shined up his lofty trickery with extra amplitude and bumped Blunck to second. Blunck embraced his teammate at the bottom of the pipe, celebrating the biggest win in Ferreira’s career.
While Ferreira hails his teammates’ variety and creativity — calling Blunck’s linking of two switch hits “the toughest combination, itap gotta be, in the entire sport” — he doesn’t watch their runs. Thatap a tip from his longtime pal and Roaring Fork Valley neighbor Yater Wallace, who stands alone and in his zone atop the halfpipe before his runs.
“I like to be by myself,” he said. “I don’t watch the runs. Everybody has got their own routine and everyone deals with pressure differently. You just have to look within yourself and believe. It helps tremendously to not watch anyone. I watch what everyone does later, I always tape it. But in the moment, I just can’t do it.”
Ferreira’s dad, Marcelo, played professional soccer for Argentina’s River Plate team. He wanted his son to follow him onto the pitch.
But soccer couldn’t beat skiing.
“I followed my passion,” Ferriera said. “He was definitely pushing for soccer but he knew I just wanted to do what I love and I respect him for respecting my decision. Thank you dad.”
He’s talked at length with his dad about handling competitive pressure, which is peaking right now as the Olympics loom.
“I think the pressure got to him. Itap a lot to handle you know. When 60,000 people are yelling at you in Spanish, thatap a lot of pressure,” Ferreira said. “He definitely understands competition. Itap good to have someone in my life who knows exactly what I’m going through.”
