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Copper Mountain’s U.S. Grand Prix event featured a return to the norm: gold dangling around Alex Ferreira’s neck.
The 30-year-old Aspenite got his first win on Dec. 21 since his perfect 2023-24 season, with eyes on even grander prizes this year. Even if his trophy cabinet has collected more silver than gold to this point in the season, he’s still in the driver’s seat for another Crystal Globe — and a return to the Olympics.
“I guess it’s the second-best way I could ever imagine my season starting, which is really cool,” Ferreira said. “I feel like I’m on the top and I feel that I’m there because I work super hard.”
Ferreira’s first gold came on the strength of a run that featured not one but two 1620 spins (four and a half rotations) — in both directions. Forbes’ Michelle Bruton reported that his right 1620 blunt was the first time that number of rotations had been executed with a tail grab in a competition. Bruton also speculates that Ferreira is the most likely to be the first halfpipe skier to land an 1800 in competition.
No one else is spinning like Ferreira — Nick Goepper’s third-place run featured a 1620, but only one.
FIS reported that the Copper victory makes Ferreira the first man in World Cup history with 10 halfpipe wins. He’s one podium shy of tying David Wise’s record of 19.
The local feels that he’s advancing the sport forward trying to stay ahead of his competition.
“I’m definitely pushing the sport along with my competitors, having to do crazier and more intense tricks,” Ferreira said. “I would say what separates me from the rest of the field maybe a little bit is the degree of difficulty. I’m pretty much the only guy in the field doing both my 1620s at the moment, and that was similar to last year. But now this year, I’m adding different grabs and doing different variations of it. So my progression has come in that form and it will also come in the form of new tricks going forward.
“I guess people are still trying to learn the tricks I kind of have nailed down now, and that translates into, ‘If you’ve done it a lot, you usually have more fluidness.’ So I try to be a bit more fluid through the transitions and I think that’s what separates me right now.”
Alex Ferreira poses with his gold medal from the U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain on Dec. 21. It’s Ferreira’s first gold since a flawless season in 2023-24, following two silvers to start the year. The Aspenite still leads the points leaderboard in the chase for the Crystal Globe.
Courtesy of FIS Park and Pipe
Ferreira took silvers in Cardrona, New Zealand, in September and at Secret Garden, China, on Dec. 7. It comes after he swept the World Cup — and Dew Tour and X Games — calendar last season.
In New Zealand, he was just half a point behind Canada’s Brendan Mackay. At Secret Garden, he was behind Goepper’s 95, the only mark this season higher than Ferreira’s 94.75 at Copper.
With just two events to go on the World Cup circuit, Ferreira is leading the way in the chase for this season’s Crystal Globe with 260 FIS points. Mackay is second with 230 and Goepper is third with 160. A first place earns a competitor 100 points, a second place yields 80.
As he explained it, Ferreira believes there’s one spot on the Team USA Olympic roster up for grabs for the highest-scoring American throughout the season. So there’s a little more on the line for Ferreira as he chases his third Crystal Globe.
“The spot is hugely important and then to be able to get another crack at (the Olympics) is my dream and to win it is my real dream,” Ferreira said. “I’m doing everything in my power every day until then to make my dream come true.”
Ferreira also won the Globe in 2018 and following his historic 2023-24 campaign.
Another Globe this year would give him the chance to compete for his third Olympic medal, and one of the only golds that have eluded him to this point in his career.
In the meantime, he’s got some more work to do. Ferreira noted he was taking some time off for the holidays before getting back into training gear ahead of the 2025 Aspen X Games. Then, a week after that, he’ll still be in his home halfpipe when the Grand Prix comes to Buttermilk.
It’ll be the first time in his career that he’ll compete in the World Cup at Buttermilk. It’ll be only his third time on the World Cup circuit in his home valley — he took second at Snowmass in 2018 and sixth at Buttermilk in 2021.
“We’re looked at as probably the most shi-shi resort or place and yet, if you think about it in the eyes of X Games and event holding, we’re kind of a core. We hold it down,” Ferreira said. “There’s a lot to be said for that and the skiing company, so I would say a big thank you to them and I just appreciate them giving life to our sport.”
At season’s end, Ferreira will also chase another first in his career, a gold medal in the world championship. His highest finish in that competition is a bronze in Bakuriana, Georgia in 2023. This year’s competition is in March in Switzerland.
“The goal is to be world champion and to win another Crystal Globe and to win X Games,” Ferreira said.