Canada’s Cassie Sharpe wins gold at final stop on halfpipe World Cup circuit
TIGNES, France — Canada’s Cassie Sharpe ended the World Cup halfpipe skiing season with a gold medal on Tuesday, giving her momentum heading into next week’s world championships.
Sharpe, from Calgary, won handily with a score of 90.80, finishing ahead of Japan’s Ayana Onozuka (86.00) and France’s Marie Martinod (84.00).
Skiing last on the final run, Sharpe knew she had won gold before she hit the pipe after posting 87.00 on her second run. Instead of taking it easy, Sharpe turned up the difficulty for her final run, landing a switched cork 720 — a jump where she takes off backwards and does two full rotations on an axis that goes upside-down through the middle.
“On her victory lap she pushed herself even harder and used it as an opportunity to try a brand new trick and she nailed it,” Sharpe’s coach Trennon Paynter said. “She had a great moment there for herself and for the sport.”