Alex Ferreira and Eileen Gu capped their 2024 dominance by winning the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on Saturday.
Ferreira, a two-time Olympic medalist, took the men’s final with a 94.75-point second run that included two 1620s.
He was joined on the podium by Canadian Brendan Mackay (91.25) and American Nick Goepper (89.25).
Ferreira won all seven of his competitions in the 2023-24 season, then was runner-up to Mackay and Goepper in the first two World Cups of this season.
The Aspen, Colorado, native seeks 2026 Olympic gold after silver and bronze at the last two Games.
“I’m just hungry,” Ferreira said. “I want it. I want to win the Olympics, and I want to do it not only for my town, for my state, for my country.”
Gu, who in 2022 won two gold medals and one silver at a home Olympics in China, won the Copper Mountain women’s title with a 90.50-point first run featuring two 900s.
It help up, barely, over later runs from Brit Zoe Atkin (89.75) and Canadian Cassie Sharpe (89.00). Sharpe, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist, is returning from August 2023 childbirth.
Gu fell while landing the last trick of her third and final run but walked off on her own power.
The 21-year-old earned a 17th career World Cup victory, breaking her tie with Frenchwoman Tess Ledeux for the most among male and female freeskiers.
Gu was last beaten in a top-level ski halfpipe final in March 2021.
Since the 2022 Olympics, she returned to classes at Stanford, plus has also studied at Oxford, leading to a lack of recent time on snow.
“I want to be a lot better than I am now,” she said. “I’m happy to have sneaked out with a win, but I want to win by a lot more.”
Copper Mountain Grand Prix highlights air Sunday from 4:30-6 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
