By USSA

MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN – Olympic champion Maddie Bowman’s solid run during halfpipe skiing qualifications at the Visa U.S. Freeskiing Grand Prix on Feb. 4 translated to a first place podium on Friday when the finals competition was canceled due to adverse weather.

Teammate Devin Logan finished third.

Strong winds once again forced event organizers to make the difficult decision to cancel finals.

“It’s unfortunate that finals were canceled, but Mammoth always puts us up really well, so I had a great time,” Bowman, who lives in Meyers and skis for Sierra-at-Tahoe, said. “I’m happy to be skiing here and I’m happy that California is getting weather, so I guess I’ll take it. I just tried to throw down a really good run and I’m happy that I did.”

On the men’s side, Canada’s Justin Dorey took the win, with Olympic champion David Wise of Reno finishing second. In his qualifying run, Wise kept things consistent and went for tricks he knew he could land, including a double cork 1260. Wise was one of three athletes to land a 1260 during this competition. Teammate Gus Kenworthy made improvements from his first to second qualifying run, landing himself in third overall.

“They told us that was a possibility [finals would be canceled] heading into qualifying,” said Kenworthy. “I had that in the back of my mind and I tried to do the best run I could. I’m stoked I got a podium. It feels good. Obviously I would have liked to skied finals, but I’d rather stay safe and take a result than try and push it in bad weather and maybe get hurt.”