Having already qualified for the 2026 U.S. Olympic team last winter, Aspen’s Alex Ferreira didn’t have much incentive to compete this weekend at the Grand Prix and World Cup at Copper Mountain.

Avoiding injury in the windy, less-than-ideal conditions during Saturday’s final was top priority. As for winning? Well, that’s just kind of what the 31-year-old superstar does these days.

“Forget about the result, I just wanted to do it for me and come out here and land a really good run and grab everything and earn it, and I definitely think I did that,” Ferreira told FIS media.

Saturday’s men’s halfpipe skiing final came down to the wire. Ferreira scored only 73.75 on his first of two runs, which in those conditions was actually fourth best. But he delivered in a big way on his second go, scoring 91.50 to jump ahead of midway leader Hunter Hess of Oregon, who finished second with 89. Canada’s Andrew Longino rounded out the podium in third with 84.

According to FIS media, Ferreira’s winning run included a switch right double cork (dub) 1080 Japan, a left dub 1260 mute, a right 1080 opposite tail grab, a switch left dub 1080 safety, and a right dub 1260 safety to Japan.

It is the 12th World Cup victory for Ferreira, extending his own record. It’s also his third straight win at the Copper Grand Prix and fourth win in five years, a fourth-place finish in 2022 his only blemish. He did not compete in the season-opening halfpipe contest in China.

“It’s really difficult because it’s a lot of wind, it’s scary, it’s flat light,” Ferreira said. “I don’t know, I just keep telling myself over and over again, ‘I can do this, I can do this, I can do this’. Then I go out and do it.”

Finishing fourth was Great Britain’s Gus Kenworthy (81.25), who has come out of retirement to chase another trip to the Olympics. In fifth was Aspen’s Tristan Feinberg (77.25); it was his second-best World Cup finish ever, behind a fourth place at Mammoth Mountain in 2023.

Idaho’s Ben Fethke was sixth (76.75); Winter Park’s Birk Irving was seventh (75.50); Japan’s Toma Matsuura was eighth (71.25); Britain’s Liam Richards was ninth (69.50); and Steamboat’s Cael McCarthy was 10th (67.25).

The latter half of the 16-skier final really struggled to put down a clean run in the conditions. Aspen’s Hunter Maytin, competing in back-to-back World Cup finals for the first time in his career, settled for another 11th-place finish with 61.25. His first World Cup final appearance came only last week in Secret Garden, China, where he also finished 11th overall.

New Zealand’s Cooper Breen was 12th (58.25); Nevada’s David Wise was 13th (27); Crested Butte’s Aaron Blunck was 14th (26); Lakewood’s Dylan Ladd was 15th (25.50); and Indiana’s Nick Goepper was 16th (21.50).

With the Copper Grand Prix being an official Olympic qualifier for Team USA, both Hess and Feinberg certainly upped their stock heading into the final events before February’s Winter Games in Italy.

Ferreira’s win only cements his status as the American — and arguably world — frontrunner for Olympic gold in two months.

“It is unbelievably special,” Ferreira said via the Summit Daily News. “I always say that you never know when you are going to stand on top of the box again, so really enjoy it to the maximum. I am surely enjoying it right now. … It shows that hard work pays off.”

The next World Cup halfpipe contest will take place in Calgary from Jan. 1-3 before Aspen’s Buttermilk Ski Area will host the final U.S. Grand Prix and Olympic qualifier from Jan. 7-10. The U.S. Olympic teams for men’s and women’s slopestyle and halfpipe (ski and snowboard) will be announced live in Aspen following the contests.

Atkin takes women’s win

The women’s halfpipe skiing final on Saturday was won by the reigning world champion, Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin (89.25), followed in second by Australia’s Indra Brown (80), and in third by China’s Kexin Zhang (77.50).

“I was just thinking about this the other night,” Atkin told FIS media. “I was 16 years old when I won my first World Cup here, and to be able to come back six years later and stand on top of the podium again, in the Olympic season — it just means so much to me. I’m super stoked to be able to put it down today.”

Following China’s Yishan Liu in fourth (75), the top American was California’s Kate Gray in fifth (72.75). New Zealand’s Mischa Thomas was sixth (68.75). Oak Creek’s Riley Jacobs (seventh, 65) and California’s Abby Winterberger (eighth, 61.25) finished at the bottom of the eight-woman final.

Basalt’s Hanna Faulhaber, a 2022 Olympian, was among those to not make it out of the qualifiers on Thursday.

acolbert@aspentimes.com