China's evergreen halfpipe heroes hit the heights

Born in Harbin, the "City of Ice" in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, Cai's rise to winter sports stardom now seems a fated pathway. Naming her with the Chinese character Xue, which means snow, little did Cai's parents know that by 16 their daughter would already be a snowboarding world-beater — in 2009 she became the first Chinese rider to win a halfpipe title at the world youth championships.

Fast forward 14 years and Cai is well-positioned to top the overall World Cup season standings for a record-extending eighth time.

"I will participate in a few exhibition events, then compete at the 14th National Winter Games and go from there to see where I finish," she said of her overall title chances.

Giving the home crowd even more to cheer last week was Liu's runner-up finish.

Having missed all competitions since Beijing 2022, fans had begun to wonder if they would ever see Liu again on the halfpipe. However, the 31-year-old came back strong in her first official race in almost two years, riding like she had never missed a beat.

With a second run that saw her lead off with a switch backside 540 weddle, into a Haakonflip 720 weddle, then a frontside 900 followed by a backside 540 weddle and an ending of a frontside 720 stalefish, Liu scored 85.75 points to register her 24th career World Cup podium, reminding the crowd of her peak performance at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Maddie Mastro of the United States had to settle for bronze, with just 0.25 points separating her best run, her first attempt, from Liu's second.

"I am back and I am so happy," said Liu, who won silver behind American superstar Chloe Kim at Pyeongchang 2018 to deliver China's first ever Olympic medal in any snowboarding discipline.

"To return to this place almost two years after Beijing 2022 feels like I've never left. I decided to come back after taking a long break because I just love this sport so much."

That unabated passion could carry her through to her fifth Olympic Games, where she hopes to finally land the ultimate prize.

"I feel like I still have a lot of untapped potential and I hope I can reach another peak of my career," said the 11-time World Cup winner.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn