Jiayu Liu (CHN) and Brad Martin (CAN) won the sixth FIS World Cup halfpipe contest of the year in front of 2,000 spectators in Calgary at the weekend.

The Chinese rider celebrated her second win of the season as she relegated her fellow countrywoman Chen Xu (42.6) and Sophie Rodriguez (FRA, 37.8) to the second and third spot respectively in the contest. She also took over the lead in the halfpipe World Cup in absence of current leader Manuela Laura Pesko (SUI).

Her winning run contained a frontside air, backside air, frontside air, backside 5, frontside 7 and cab 3.

“The halfpipe was in perfect condition today,” she said. “Winning in front of such an amazing crowd makes me just happy!”

In the men’s night final, Brad Martin (who had placed third in Calgary last year) celebrated his career’s first ever World Cup victory by scoring 42.9 points.

His team mate Jeff Batchelor (40.8) finished second – just like in Japan one week ago – edging Norway’s Tore Holvik by a lead of only 0.1 points into third place.

In his first run, Martin pulled out a backside air, a frontside 10 tail grab, a cab 7, a frontside 9 tail grab and a frontside 5 mute grab.

“I’m super happy especially because I didn’t do very well during the training sessions,” he said after his win. “But after all, I made it in the end.”