Rachael Karker takes the top spot for the Women’s Modified Superpipe

Breckenridge opened the day with bluebird skies and low temps, and the stoke from Women’s Slopestyle and the Team Challenge continued to keep the energy high. The modified superpipe is a way for skiers to include creativity in their run, and bring out new ideas that would not necessarily be possible in a conventional superpipe. The different variations of transitions and hips allowed for athletes to take different approaches and made for a show.
Words by Laura Obermeyer

“We’re such specialized athletes, so stepping out of a normal half pipe and into modified rattled me and really made me think” – Cassie Sharpe

Some of the athletes struggled with their first runs, but the format allows for three hits for each of the eight riders. The judges were scoring based on amplitude and difficulty so skiers who scored low in the first two rounds still had chance to put it down in their third. Olympic gold medalist and seasoned halfpipe skier Cassie Sharpe put down a huge backflip on the shark fin feature up top, kicking off her run in style. For the athletes with experience in both pipe and slopestyle like Devin Logan, the modified pipe was an exciting thing to take on. Cassie Sharpe, on the other hand, has put her focus on a normal half pipe, claiming that “we’re such specialized athletes, so stepping out of a normal half pipe and into modified rattled me and really made me think”. When asked if modified superpipes might be the future in contests, Rachael Karker responded that “having more events like it would be really cool, there was less pressure because I was able to just try it and see how it goes”.

“Having more events like it would be really cool, there was less pressure because I was able to just try it and see how it goes” -Rachael Karker

Rachel Karker took first, with Cassie Sharpe following in second and Devin Logan in third.

Results:

1.) Rachael Karker, 87.33
2.) Cassie Sharpe, 84.67
3.) Devin Logan, 71.00
4.) Brita Sigourney, 68.33
5.) Abigale Hansen, 67.33
6.) Svea Irving, 57.33
7.) Maddie Bowman, 56.00
8.) Annalisa Drew, 45.oo