Commentary

Here comes the Grand Prix

The U.S. Grand Prix freeski event will now be a World Cup. What does that mean?

Updated: December 8, 2011, 3:32 PM ET
By Devon O'Neil | ESPN.com

Tom Zikas/USSACanadian Justin Dorey at the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper last year.

The first halfpipe contest of the year -- the U.S. Grand Prix -- is happening this week at Copper Mountain, Colo. Ski Halfpipe finals take place Friday, and snowboard finals take place on Saturday. On Friday afternoon, the U.S. Freeskiing and U.S. Snowboard Slopestyle and Halfpipe teams will officially be announced in a 4 p.m. ceremony at Copper.

This is the 16th year of the U.S. Grand Prix contest and the second year that freeskiing has been included in the previously snowboard-only contest. This is also the first time that the U.S. Grand Prix freeskiing events -- including this weekend's at Copper and the halfpipe and slopestyle Grand Prix taking place at Mammoth Mountain, Calif. in late February -- have been elevated to World Cup status by the International Ski Federation (F.I.S.).

The World Cup status actually changes little about the contests themselves.The prize money stays about the same, all events are still open competitions with qualifying rounds to whittle down the field, and despite the World Cup designation, there will be no nation quotas as in most World Cup events because the F.I.S. hasn't established quotas for freeskiing events yet. Usually, only a certain number of skiers from each country would be allowed to enter a World Cup, a condition that could eventually hurt powerhouse nations like the U.S. and Canada.

Probably the most significant aspect of the Grand Prix series' World Cup designation is that the U.S. will now host three of the four freeskiing World Cups this season: both halfpipe competitions and one of the two slopestyle contests (the other takes place in Jyväskylä, Finland, on Feb. 25). That is no small victory for America's national governing body, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, which lobbied the F.I.S. to host freeskiing World Cups for much of the offseason.

Tom Zikas/USSAThe 22-foot pipe at Copper Mountain, Colo. is hosting the Grand Prix this week.

This means that when Mammoth hosts the Grand Prix finale, overall World Cup champs in slope and pipe will be crowned on U.S. snow -- a rarity for any F.I.S. discipline.

While this year's World Cups won't have a direct effect on who qualifies for the 2014 Olympics, they do give skiers and snowboarders an opportunity to build their F.I.S. points, which carry over from season to season. For instance, any athlete who wins a World Cup gets 1,000 F.I.S. points regardless of the strength of field.

That's much more than athletes typically need to qualify for Olympic consideration. According to U.S. Freeskiing director Jeremy Forster, the minimum has been about 100 points in previous Olympics, or the equivalent of a World Cup finish in the range of 15th to 20th place.

With so much focus on slopestyle course design as the discipline moves toward its Olympic debut, Mammoth confirmed its setup will closely resemble the design used for last winter's Grand Prix snowboarding slopestyle contest in Main Park. Skiers can expect to see "a pair of double pads with jib features, followed by a 55-foot jump and butterbox, and ending with a pair of back-to-back jumps in the 60- to 80-foot range," according to a release from the resort.

Devon O'Neil

Writer, Action Sports
O'Neil was raised in the Virgin Islands before dropping anchor to ski, write, and combine the two for profit. He now lives in Breckenridge, Colo.

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