Alex Ferreira, shown in a training session in Engadin, Switzerland, earlier in the week, took third place in the FIS World Championships on Sunday.
The FIS World Championship title remains elusive for Aspen’s Alex Ferreira, but he’s coming home from Switzerland with more hardware nonetheless.
On Sunday, in Engadin, Switzerland, Ferreira took third place in the freeski halfpipe despite scoring a 92.50 as three Americans landed in the top five.
The 30-year-old was in second place after the first set of runs, with a classic Ferreira showing of 1,620 rotations in both directions in his five hits. But there was no stopping New Zealand’s Finley Melville Ives, competing in a World Championships for the first time in his career.
The 18-year-old Kiwi put up an outrageous 97 in qualifiers on Friday (seven points ahead of the field) before dropping a 96 in his first run on Sunday, which held up against challengers like Ferreira, Nick Goepper, Hunter Hess and fellow New Zealander Luke Harrold.
His run, described by the FIS commentator as “one of the best pipe runs in history,” included 1620s going both ways with a double cork with a safety grab putting an exclamation point on the run.
Goepper took silver with a 94 point second run, giving Team USA two podium finishers.
Alex Ferreira and Hanna Lamm represented Aspen in the freeski halfpipe at the FIS World Championships in Switzerland over the weekend.
Ferreira took his second straight bronze in a World Championships after doing so in Bakuriani, Georgia in 2023. It was his fourth trip to Worlds, where silver and gold have remained just out of his reach.
The medal caps another standout season for the Aspen native, in which he podiumed in every event he competed and won another Crystal Globe. In the five FIS World Cup events throughout the season, he claimed a bronze, two silvers and two golds including one in his home halfpipe at Buttermilk in what his coach Elana Chase called “the most stacked competition” she had ever seen at the time.
He also took silver at X Games, dueling it out with Goepper. It was the second year in a row he took home a medal in each contest he entered.
It sets the stage for an important 2026 season with a trip to the Olympics on the line — though Ferreira figures to be a frontrunner for a spot on the roster already.
On the women’s side in Engadin, local star Hanna Faulhaber was out with injury and wasn’t available to defend her title from two years ago, but another local Hanna took her place.
After making her first World Cup start of her career this season, 19-year-old Hanna Lamm earned the fourth and final spot for the U.S. roster, potentially becoming the first woman halfpipe skier to head to the World Championships in the first year on the WC circuit.
Lamm finished outside the cut in qualifiers, placing 15th in the 18-woman field, but put down two complete runs in her Worlds’ debut. England’s Zoe Atkin won the World Championship with China’s Fanghui Li taking second and Canada’s Cassie Sharpe placing third.
Lamm said she’s hoping that getting the invite to Worlds will help her land a spot on the U.S. Ski Team and open subsequent doors for her to continue growing her career. She, too, will look forward to a big 2026 season to compete for an Olympics spot.