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Ferreira, Irving Go 1-2 in Calgary

By Leann Bentley
January, 21 2023
Alex and Birk Calgary
Alex Ferreira and Birk Irving celebrate their first and second places atop the podium in Calgary, Canada.

Alex Ferreira and Birk Irving went one-two to close out the back-to-back freeski halfpipe contests in Calgary, Canada. 

Ferreira added another first-place podium result to his resume and was seen twirling his pole, in classic fashion, to celebrate being back on top. Right beside him is Irving, who proved his result by stringing together enough technical, consistent and unique tricks to land second among the strong field of competitors at the Calgary Rodeo. 

After his second run, which ultimately landed him atop the podium, Ferreria was yelling to the crowd, "Thank you so much, I am so grateful! Let's go!" In his second run, dropping into the pipe switch, Ferreira put together a cork-10, double-cork-12 and a massive double-cork and set the bar nearly out of reach for the other competitors. But, then came Irving.

Irving, now the overall leader in the FIS World Cup standings, was firing on all cylinders. With 27 FIS World Cup starts under his belt and four podiums, Irving knows what it takes to break into the top three. His second run of the event is what led him to second place, when he confidently landed a left-side-cork-10, double-cork straight into a double-flat-spin and a massive double-cork - he had just enough to edge out third-place finisher Noah Bowman of Canada. 

David Wise, who challenged the podium through the entire contest was fifth. Tristan Feinberg who landed three double corks in one single run was ninth and Cameron Brodrick, who was in his first finals of the week in Calgary, was 10th.

On the women's side, Hanna Faulhaber, who was third in the first contest of the week, led the charge for the U.S. team and finished in fourth. Now, Faulhaber will return back to the States for her "favorite event ever" the 2023 Aspen X Games.

Right with Faulhaber was teammate Svea Irving, who was fifth. Irving, throughout her three runs in finals, threw down serious amplitude and clean, technical tricks. Eileen Gu of China was back on top of the podium for the second time this week, winning the contest to close out another Calgary Rodeo. 

Now, the U.S. Freeski Team resets before the last stop on the domestic World Cup circuit, the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain from Feb. 2-4.