{"id":794878,"date":"2019-04-16T20:16:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T02:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/battle-mountains-cope-upsets-x-games-champ-alex-hall-to-defend-vail-pond-skimming-title\/"},"modified":"2019-04-16T20:16:01","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T02:16:01","slug":"battle-mountains-cope-upsets-x-games-champ-alex-hall-to-defend-vail-pond-skimming-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/battle-mountains-cope-upsets-x-games-champ-alex-hall-to-defend-vail-pond-skimming-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle Mountain\u2019s Cope upsets X Games champ Alex Hall to defend Vail pond skimming title"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery\" readability=\"6.873786407767\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-364530-805\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily | Victory is always sweeter amid fierce competition. Casey Cope learned that lesson at the World Pond Skimming Championships in Vail on Sunday, when he defeated current X Games and Dew Tour champion Alex Hall to earn his third-straight pond skimming victory. Cope is seen here celebrating at the event.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"8\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519.jpg\" alt=\"Victory is always sweeter amid fierce competition. Casey Cope learned that lesson at the World Pond Skimming Championships in Vail on Sunday, when he defeated current X Games and Dew Tour champion Alex Hall to earn his third-straight pond skimming victory. Cope is seen here celebrating at the event.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Victory is always sweeter amid fierce competition. Casey Cope learned that lesson at the World Pond Skimming Championships in Vail on Sunday, when he defeated current X Games and Dew Tour champion Alex Hall to earn his third-straight pond skimming victory. Cope is seen here celebrating at the event.<\/strong><br \/>Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily | The Best Performance by a Skier award was given to 80-year-old Edmund Doogan, who hit the water cleanly after a nice air into the pond and skimmed most of the way through, much to the delight of the many fans in attendance at Vail's World Pond Skimming Championships on Sunday.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"8.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-1.jpg\" alt=\"The Best Performance by a Skier award was given to 80-year-old Edmund Doogan, who hit the water cleanly after a nice air into the pond and skimmed most of the way through, much to the delight of the many fans in attendance at Vail's World Pond Skimming Championships on Sunday.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>The Best Performance by a Skier award was given to 80-year-old Edmund Doogan, who hit the water cleanly after a nice air into the pond and skimmed most of the way through, much to the delight of the many fans in attendance at Vail&#8217;s World Pond Skimming Championships on Sunday.<\/strong><br \/>Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-2.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily | Had Hall not stolen the show, former World Cup ski cross racer Langely McNeal would have been far and away the most decorated snowsports athlete at Vail's World Pond Skimming Championships on Sunday. McNeal is a former World Cup ski cross competitor who also competed in X Games during her career, which spanned from 2008 to 2013. McNeal won the First-Place Female award.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"8.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-2.jpg\" alt=\"Had Hall not stolen the show, former World Cup ski cross racer Langely McNeal would have been far and away the most decorated snowsports athlete at Vail's World Pond Skimming Championships on Sunday. McNeal is a former World Cup ski cross competitor who also competed in X Games during her career, which spanned from 2008 to 2013. McNeal won the First-Place Female award.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"12\">\n<p><strong>Had Hall not stolen the show, former World Cup ski cross racer Langely McNeal would have been far and away the most decorated snowsports athlete at Vail&#8217;s World Pond Skimming Championships on Sunday. McNeal is a former World Cup ski cross competitor who also competed in X Games during her career, which spanned from 2008 to 2013. McNeal won the First-Place Female award.<\/strong><br \/>Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-3.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily | Battle Mountain High School senior Casey Cope skims the water in switch stance after hitting a jump into the water also in switch stance, a freeskiing maneuver known as a zero spin. The trick impressed judges enough to award Cope the First Place Male award at the World Pond Skimming Championships in Vail on Sunday.\" class=\"h-100\">\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\" readability=\"8\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/04\/PondSkimming-VDN-041519-3.jpg\" alt=\"Battle Mountain High School senior Casey Cope skims the water in switch stance after hitting a jump into the water also in switch stance, a freeskiing maneuver known as a zero spin. The trick impressed judges enough to award Cope the First Place Male award at the World Pond Skimming Championships in Vail on Sunday.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Battle Mountain High School senior Casey Cope skims the water in switch stance after hitting a jump into the water also in switch stance, a freeskiing maneuver known as a zero spin. The trick impressed judges enough to award Cope the First Place Male award at the World Pond Skimming Championships in Vail on Sunday.<\/strong><br \/>Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/battle-mountains-cope-upsets-x-games-champ-alex-hall-to-defend-vail-pond-skimming-title\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/battle-mountains-cope-upsets-x-games-champ-alex-hall-to-defend-vail-pond-skimming-title\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">GOLDEN PEAK \u2014 Three-time defending champion Casey Cope is still the top pond skimmer in Vail after a performance that would impress the best slopestyle skiers competing Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Actually the best slopestyle skier competing Sunday did see the run, and he was really impressed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Olympian Alex Hall, of Park City, Utah, competed in Vail\u2019s annual World Pond Skimming Championships on Sunday in an appearance that surprised all who follow the sport of freeskiing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">But what was even more surprising was that Hall, who won both on the Dew Tour and at the X Games this season, did not win the competition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After making it through to the semifinal with ease, Cope\u2019s final run through the pond was very similar to Hall\u2019s in that both skiers rode through the water backward, in what\u2019s known as switch stance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While Hall went off the jump in the forward and performed a left-spinning 180 to hit the water switch, Cope hit the jump switch and remained backward throughout the pond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For extra speed, Cope got a little help from two skiers at the top who pulled him. Hall was one of the skiers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThat was awesome,\u201d Hall said of Cope\u2019s run. \u201cI met him at the top, he\u2019s awesome, he\u2019s hilarious and he\u2019s really good at it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Cope\u2019s \u201czero spin,\u201d airing off the jump and landing switch, was deemed to be the better trick on the day and Cope \u2014 who also won Vail\u2019s pond-skimming championships in 2018 and 2017 \u2014 was able to stand atop the podium again this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think I definitely had the home-crowd advantage,\u201d Cope said. \u201cHe\u2019s an X Games gold medalist, but I had kids in my class \u2026 rooting for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">LEVEL OF LEGITIMACY<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Cope said after winning the pond-skimming event in 2017 and 2018, he was no longer trying to win, he just wanted to put on a good show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cSo I thought I\u2019m gonna hit it backward, that\u2019d be a fun thing to try,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">With Hall bringing a level of legitimacy to Cope\u2019s pond-skimming reign in a big way on Sunday, Cope said he could have never imagined the outcome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI still can\u2019t believe it,\u201d he said after the event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Danny Grabel, who won the Best Splash award on Sunday, may have put it best.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s about the first contest Hall hasn\u2019t won this season,\u201d Grabel said with a laugh.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Grabel also pointed out that Hall was not wearing his \u201clucky sweater,\u201d a fashion choice Hall became known for this season when he won X Games wearing the sweater.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Cope is a senior at Battle Mountain High School who plans on attending the University of Colorado in the fall. When he won the pond-skimming event for a second time last year, Cope was awarded an Epic Pass, which he scanned some 60 times this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He said he had been looking forward to the pond-skimming event all year, but had no idea what was in store. Cope said he didn\u2019t know Hall was competing until he recognized him at the top of the venue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI look over and I\u2019m like wait, that is a pro skier, that man was in the Olympics, that man won an X Games gold medal, he\u2019s one of my idols, I\u2019ve been watching his edits for years,\u201d Cope said. \u201cHe was right there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">\u2018SMALLER STUFF IS MORE FUN\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hall made a last-minute decision to join in the competition on Sunday. He said he was in town skiing with friends in Breckenridge and, after watching videos of last year\u2019s event, decided to try it out this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When Hall showed up, the signup was full, but he was allowed a late registration, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cSpur of the moment,\u201d Hall said. \u201cUsually smaller stuff is more fun, the big stuff gets scary some times so it\u2019s fun to switch it up, and I\u2019ve never done a pond-skimming event before, so it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If Hall had not decided to join in the competition on Sunday, the most decorated snowsports athlete by a long shot would have been Idaho ski cross racer Langely McNeal, who also competed in X Games and had a five-year career on the World Cup from 2008 to 2013. McNeal\u2019s disco-era outfit, coupled with her effortless style over the water got her into the finals and earned her the first-place female award on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Fan favorite Edmund Doogan who, at 80 years old, skimmed the pond nearly to the end after a massive air into the water, was awarded the Best Performance by a Skier. Best Performance by a Snowboarder was awarded to Kelby McManus, Joseph Neff won the Pepsi Performance Award and Peter Woroniecki was deemed the Show Stopper presented by Oakley.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/sports\/battle-mountains-cope-upsets-x-games-champ-alex-hall-to-defend-vail-pond-skimming-title\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victory is always sweeter amid fierce competition. Casey Cope learned that lesson at the World Pond Skimming Championships in Vail on Sunday, when he defeated current X Games and Dew Tour champion Alex Hall to earn his third-straight pond skimming victory. Cope is seen here celebrating at the event.Barry Eckhaus \/ Special to the Daily [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-794878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 15:47:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}