Summit’s Lucas Foster flies to 3rd at final day of Winter Dew Tour
Eileen Gu becomes double, 2024 Dew Tour champion
Liz Copan/For the Summit Daily News
After two days of high-flying action, the 2024 Winter Dew Tour came to a triumphant end on Sunday, March 10, with two finals being staged for extreme sport enthusiasts to spectate while enjoying a sun-filled day of turns at Copper Mountain Resort.
Women’s ski superpipe
Originally expecting to compete on the first day of competition, athletes in the women’s ski superpipe final came out of the gates swinging after patiently waiting through two-straight training days due to the low visibility on Friday afternoon.
After showing off her versatility by winning the women’s ski streetstyle final on Saturday night, China’s Eileen Gu looked to add another podium finish to her resume to cap off the 2023-24 competition season.
Gu — who attends Stanford University — began the halfpipe final by displaying why she is already considered one of the best female skiers of all time at the age of 20.
Stringing together back-to-back 900s and hucking over 12 feet out of the pipe, Gu made her run look smooth, earning a massive score of 96.33 to assume her spot at the top of the rankings after the first round of runs.
Gu’s first run was rivaled by Winter Park’s Svea Irving and fellow Stanford colleague Zoe Atkin of Great Britain.
Irving’s first run featured an alley-oop 540 and a 900 in order to score 87.66, and Atkin put together a 540 with a mute grab and a switch 720 to score 94.
Heading into the second runs from the field, it was Gu, Atkin and Canada’s Amy Fraser in the top three podium spots with Irving on the bubble in fourth.
Wanting to crash onto the podium, Irving tried to spice up her run on her second time down the pipe, but she caught one of her skis on the halfpipe lip, scrubbing some speed away from the run. Atkin also tried to go bigger in order to improve her score, but she crashed after trying to bring a trick around a little bit too fast.
Continuing to make it look effortless, Gu managed to improve her score on her second run, posting a score of 97.66 to further separate herself from the competition.
The score was high enough for Gu to enjoy a victory lap on her final run. Soaking in the moment of being a double 2024 Dew Tour champion, Gu soared high against the Tenmile Range set behind her while rotating in the air.
“Honestly, this has been a really tough last few days,” Gu said of her performances over the weekend. “I think with jet lag, the time change, coming from Paris a few days ago, moving the pipe contest to today and then competing last night has been a whirlwind. I think more than anything, it has been a testament of my love for the sport and the tenacity that I have built over the course of the season. I have so much love for this.”
Gu was followed in first (96.33) by Atkin in second (94) and Fraser (91.33) in third. Irving finished right off the podium in fourth with her third run score of 89.
Additionally, Oak Creek’s Riley Jacobs, 20, placed fifth with a top score of 80.
Men’s snowboard superpipe
Quickly following the women’s ski superpipe final, the Dew Tour came to a triumphant end with the men’s snowboard superpipe final.
Featuring 2022 Olympic gold medalist Ayumu Hirano of Japan as well as Summit residents Chase Blackwell and Lucas Foster, the competition was bound to be heated.
Last-minute fill-in Alessandro Barbieri of Portland, Oregon was the first rider to drop into the halfpipe, earning a score of 77 to warm up the crowd and judges.
On Foster’s first run of the day, the Telluride product executed on a backside 540 and a front 1080 before falling on his final hit of the wall while trying to land an alley-oop double McTwist.
Foster was soon followed by Blackwell, who attempted to go all in on his first run. Blackwell landed a huge switch McTwist 720, which earned him a score of 71. Blackwell was momentarily in a podium position, but he was pushed to fourth after higher scores from Ayumu Hirano, Ruka Hirano and Hailey, Idaho’s Chase Josey.
The defending Dew Tour champion, Ayumu Hirano earned the top score after the first round of runs, bringing out the frontside triple cork to casually score a 95.33.
Ayumu Hirano was followed by Ruka Hirano in the silver-medal position while Josey maintained third heading into the second round of runs.
Needing to clean up his run if he wanted to bump his way up in the rankings, Foster skyrocketed out of the pipe again, but he came down hard on his heels while once again trying to land the dynamic, alley-oop double McTwist.
With Kaishu Hirano pushing into a podium position, Blackwell tried to do the same, but he fell at the end of the halfpipe while trying to land a frontside 1260.
Beginning the final round of runs, it was the Japanese riders leading the field. Ayumu Hirano maintained the top spot with a score of 95.33, Yuto Totsuka sat in second and Ayumu’s younger brother Kaishu Hirano ranked third.
In a battle for the top spot, Totsuka went huge on his final run doing a switch backside 1260 to earn a score of 96.33 to overtake Ayumu Hirano.
Moments later, Foster got the monkey off his back, finally landing the alley-oop double McTwist to crash onto the podium with a score of 94.
The trick electrified the crowd and also woke up the remaining field yet to drop. After getting bumped to fourth by Foster, Kaishu Hirano tried to reclaim a spot on the podium, but he fell midway through his run.
Sitting in eighth, Blackwell tried to mimic his fellow American teammate, but he could not stomp the entire run. Blackwell placed eighth with a top-run score of 71.
“A little bummed that I couldn’t get the run down that I wanted to, but I was stoked to at least land the first run and walk away healthy,” Blackwell said. “I struggled a little in practice, but today the pipe was super good, the weather was super good and the vibes were super good. I am stoked on that.”
In a do or die, high-tense moment, Ayumu Hirano landed the triple cork and a front 1260 to fly past Totsuka for his second-straight Dew Tour gold with a score of 97.
Totsuka took silver with (96.33), and Foster upset the Japanese sweep in third (94) for his first career podium finish.
“I am still processing it, but it is like the most relieving, worthy feeling,” Foster said. “I have had a lot of highs and lows since the Olympics, learning tricks, runs not coming together, but now for all of it to come together makes all of the challenges worth it. I am just glad I didn’t give up because there were times when I was so bummed that it wasn’t coming as quick as I wanted.”
Foster will now enter the offseason where he hopes to use his podium finish at the Dew Tour as momentum for next winter and the lead-up to the 2026 Olympic games.
“I am at a point now where I am figuring out what is working, so I am just going to continue to make the right steps forward — and there’s more tricks I want to learn,” Foster said. “Honestly, there are a lot of tricks I didn’t do today that I have on my run still, so I am excited to get a run with everything I know that I am capable of. This (finish) is just a green light to keep going.”
Saturday streetstyle action
Prior to a musical performance by Snakehips, the women’s ski streetstyle competition took place in the terrain park set up in the base area of Center Village.
Gu won the competition with a score of 91.66 for another trophy for her overflowing trophy case, Germany’s Lisa Zimmermann placed second (90) and Peñasco, New Mexico’s Marion Balsamo took third (73.33).
In the men’s snowboard streetstyle competition, Canada’s Liam Brearley took home the gold (90.33) and was followed by Blowing Rock, North Carolina’s Luke Winkelmann (88.66) and Canada’s Darcy Sharpe (86.33) on the podium.
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