Olympians Red Gerard, Alex Ferreira Reign Supreme Saturday At Dew Tour
by Todd Kortemeier
(L-R) Chris Corning and Red Gerard celebrate after the men's snowboard slopestyle final at the 2021 Dew Tour at Copper Mountain on Dec. 18, 2021 in Copper Mountain, Colorado.
A pair of U.S. Olympians came out on top in their respective events and took one step closer to making another U.S. Olympic Team on the penultimate day of action at the Dew Tour in Copper Mountain, Colorado.
Red Gerard successfully defended his 2020 Dew Tour title in slopestyle snowboarding and Alex Ferreira took the win in halfpipe skiing to put themselves in prime position to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Both athletes just edged out U.S. teammates for their gold medals, with Chris Corning finishing right behind Gerard and Aaron Blunck placing second behind Ferreira.
Gerard used the 50th and final run of the day among the field of 25 riders to put down a score of 93.25, knocking off Corning’s 91.50 set on the previous turn. Mark Morris of Canada was third at 90.00. Gerard punctuated his run with a switch backside 1620 to secure the win.
“Standing at the top for Run 2 after seeing all the guys destroy it today, I was just thinking that I’m so proud of our U.S. team and all of my friends from everywhere, and how good we’ve been riding,” said Gerard in a story on the Dew Tour website. “Obviously I wanted to land a run and get on the podium, but more than anything, I was just feeling so happy with how everyone rode. It was incredible.”
Ferreira won his second consecutive competition on this same halfpipe, having won the world cup event at Copper Mountain on Dec. 10. Ferreira was brilliant again Saturday, scoring a 95.75 on his third run to nab first place. Blunck nearly caught him with his next run, but finished one point behind. Brendan Mackay of Canada was third with 92.25.
The Dew Tour concludes Sunday with men’s and women’s halfpipe snowboarding, featuring athletes such as Olympic gold medalists Shaun White and Chloe Kim hoping to get themselves closer to Beijing.
Todd Kortemeier
Todd Kortemeier is a sportswriter, editor and children’s book author from Minneapolis. He is a contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.