December 17, 2021 |  By Mary Murphy

Pro skiers and snowboarders from around the world are gathering in Copper Mountain, Colo., yet again for the Dew Tour competition. And the stakes are high with it being an Olympic qualifiers event.

What exactly is Dew Tour? It’s more than 200 athletes from 17 different countries competing in ski and snowboard superpipe, slopestyle, and adaptive snowboard slalom. It’s the best of the best of ski and snowboard competitions.

We’ll have coverage streaming in live from the event over the next few days, so be sure to check back here for more news, updates, and winning results.

The U.S. Snowboard and Freeski teams have had a packed competition season. Halfpipe, big air, and slopestyle teams competed at the Big Air FIS World Cup (Dec. 2-4) and the U.S. Grand Prix FIS World Cup (Dec. 8-10) earlier this month.

Plus, many winter athletes are riding full-steam toward the 2022 Beijing Olympics Winter Games.

This weekend, skiers and snowboarders will compete in slopestyle and pipe competitions at the Winter Dew Tour, one of the last Olympic qualifying events on U.S. turf. (Dew Tour was also an Olympic qualifier for freeskiing and snowboarding back in 2014 and 2018.)

Needless to say, Dew Tour is where the action is. And if you aren’t going in person, our live coverage is the place to be.

Many athletes riding at Dew Tour are vying for points to make their way up the FIS rankings, which factors into their Olympic qualifications. Who will podium at Dew Tour? Which skiers and snowboarders will rise to the top ranks? Stay tuned to find out.

The halfpipe competition has athletes competing inside Copper Mountain’s 22-foot superpipe. In the finals, each athlete will get three runs (scored on a 100-point system) to show their stuff. The best one of their three runs determines their final rank.

Here are the 10 male freeskiers who made it onto the start list for finals:

U.S. athletes Birk Irving and David Wise followed up the podium pack in places fourth and fifth.

Here are the 10 male snowboarders who made it onto the start list for finals:

As expected, several athletes from Japan and the U.S. have stacked the ranked in the top 10. Though the big surprise was U.S. snowboarder Danny Davis, who finished 12th, just short of making it to finals.

Here are the eight female freeskiers who made it onto the start list for finals:

Here are the eight female riders who made it onto the start list for finals:

Similar to men’s halfpipe, Japan absolutely dominated the women’s halfpipe board. Though, U.S. pros Maddie Maestro and Chloe Kim have still got to be the favorites headed to finals.

Here’s how slopestyle works: Competitors will get three runs to show their skills. They are scored on a point system out of 100. Here are the 10 male freeskiers who made it onto the start list for finals:

Men’s ski slopestyle finals saw a ton of talent, but U.S. athletes ended up dominating the podium. Moreso, both first- and second-place finishers are from Park City, Utah: 23-year-old Alex Hall and 24-year-old Colby Stevenson.

Same as the men’s competition format, female slopestyle skiers will compete in three runs, where they are scored on a 100-point scale and then ranked by their best run.

This time at Dew Tour, qualifiers were postponed, meaning the whole field of 16 freeskiers will compete in the three-run final. Skiers to watch in the women’s slopestyle include Eileen Gu — who could potentially podium twice in one day in slopestyle and halfpipe — and Sarah Hoefflin, Giulia Tanno, Johanne Killi, Mathilde Gremaud, along with frontrunner and fan-favorite Tess Ledeux. Plus, U.S. skier and Dew Tour rookie Bella Bacon.

Speed was a huge factor with the women’s snowboard slopestyle competition Saturday morning, with big names like U.S. riders Jamie Anderson, Julia Marino, and Courtney Rummel (finishing in 4th place) missing the podium spots.

Men’s snowboard slopestyle finals saw an absolute epic performance from all the top athletes, but U.S. athlete and reigning Dew Tour 2020 champion Red Gerard ended up pulling the first place spot with his final run. A third U.S. pro snowboarder Sean FitzSimons finished in fourth place behind snowboard star Mark McMorris.

The only adaptive event at Dew Tour, 16 male and 10 female athletes will compete on the adaptive snowboard slalom course. They’ll be timed on two runs, and the fastest of two runs counts. The women will compete first, then the men.

We’ll be updating athlete rankings and results as fast as possible throughout Dew Tour events. See official Dew Tour results here. 

The U.S. Grand Prix in January 2022 is the last challenge before athletes find out who (on the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team) will make it onto the Olympic teams.

Mary is the Managing Editor of GearJunkie and is based in GearJunkie's Denver, Colo. office. She has a degree in English and journalism, and has a background in both newspaper and magazine writing. Her outdoor interests span from running to sport climbing, from landscape photography to skiing to pack-paddleboarding. If she's not writing, you can most likely find her at the top of a fourteener, or in a local bakery.

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