SWERVE - CANADIAN OPEN COVERAGE

More Coverage from the CANO

Check out all of the Canadian Open video coverage from the Calgary Sun:

Halfpipe Finals



Slopestyle Champ Lands Backside-Switch 1260



Burton Canadian Open


Halfpipe


Laid-Back Snowboarders



From Baseball to Boarding



Ten-Year-Old to Compete With Pros

Canadians Anderson and Taylor Win CANO Halfpipe Titles

A field of 40 men and 16 women competed today for the Burton Canadian Open halfpipe titles worth CAD$7,500 each and Canada came out on top, taking five of the six podium spots. Part of the Burton Global Open Series and the Swatch Ticket To Ride World Snowboard Tour, the first annual Canadian Open showcased some of the world’s top snowboarders competing at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, a facility of WinSport Canada.
In the women’s competition Mercedes Nicoll, member of the Canadian National Snowboard Team, took the lead early in semi-finals, scoring an 87.5 with a run that started out with a backside 540 melon, followed by a frontside 540 stalefish, followed by a stylish backside nosegrab, into a frontside tailgrab, backside melon, finishing with a melon to fakie. Hot on her heels was Burton European Open slopestyle gold medalist, Lisa Wiik out of Norway, in addition to six other ladies who were ready to go big and throw down.

And that’s exactly what 16-year-old Palmer Taylor did in women’s halfpipe finals. Her winning run started off with a frontside 720, followed by a Cab 360 indy, followed by a frontside air, into a backside air and finishing with a frontside 900, the first 900 done in the women’s competition all week. “I just went for it (the 900) in my third run, I felt like I had nothing to lose”, said Palmer. “It’s awesome to win in your own country; it was more meaningful to me, in a way. My parents were watching the live webcast on Go211, they called me right after and were freaking out. I was so speechless when all the other girls came up to hug me.”

The Canadian contingent was super strong throughout the men’s semi-finals, taking 12 out of 16 spots in the finals, including COP park groomer Josh Duncan. 32-year-old Justin Lamoureux was spinning to win, finishing first in semis by dropping in switch and starting things off with a frontside 900, followed by a switch backside 900, into a backside 540, followed by a frontside 900, finishing with a backside 900.

Lamoureux stomped two high-scoring runs in finals with big, technical sequences. But it was COP local and high school senior Jed Anderson who walked away with first place by impressing the judges with his effortless style and clean landings. Anderson’s last and best run started off with a frontside 720, followed by a switch frontside 720, into a frontside 360 crail, followed by a switch frontside 900, finishing with a switch backside 720. “I’ve been riding here [at COP] my whole life”, said Jed. “I don’t even usually ride halfpipe, I wasn’t a very likely candidate in the field, it was super surprising that I won.”

Results
Halfpipe
1 Palmer Taylor CAN Burton 82.83
2 Sarah Conrad CAN Ride 80.33
3 Lisa Wiik NOR Roxy 73.33

Halfpipe Finals Men
1 Jed Anderson CAN Salomon 94.67
2 Justin Lamoureux CAN Whistler 92.67
3 Jeff Batchelor CAN Burton 87.00

The Burton Canadian Open action continues tomorrow at Canada Olympic Park with men’s and women’s slopestyle semi-finals from 10:45am – 1:45pm and finals from 2:30pm – 4:30pm. If you can’t make it to Canada, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.

Canadian Open - Day 4

Friday, the fourth day of the Burton Canadian Open, saw chilly temps and high winds during the men’s and women’s slopestyle qualifications which went down today at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta. Winds were gusting up to 39km/hr, with a wind chill at -8°c, which felt pretty darn cold after the balmy temperatures earlier in the week.
First to drop were the women in their slopestyle qualification round, 24 women took to the course which featured rails, boxes, a dance floor, two booters and a jibbable mushroom cap. The top nine ladies would move on to Sunday’s slopestyle semi-finals and finals, where they will face the likes of Breckenridge Dew Tour Gold Medalist Spencer O’Brien and TransWorld Rookie of the Year Raewyn Reid in addition to Leanne Pelosi, Sarka Pancochova and Silvia Mittermueller.
Although the competition was stiff amongst the ladies, the top spot went to Megan Ginter who kicked off her run with a smooth boardslide to front board to forward, followed by a front 50/50 backside 180 out, keeping speed into the first kicker and pulling a clean switch backside 180, followed by a backside 360 on the second jump, into a 50/50 on the down rail, finishing with a mushroom ride.

Result
Slopestyle Qualifications Women
1 Megan Ginter USA Ride
2 Breanna Stangeland CAN Forum
3 Cecilia Larsen SWE Burton
4 Mary Sallah USA Flow
5 Jenna Blasman CAN Burton
6 Julianne Brackett USA Betty Rides
7 Taryn Cowling CAN Billabong
8 Alexandra Duckworth CAN Rossignol
9 Kara Rennie CAN Nikita

A field of 40 men then took to the course for slopestyle qualifications, taking the top 14 finishers to Sunday’s semis and finals where they will battle for first place against current TTR World Tour points leader Chas Guldemond in addition to Mikkel Bang, Marko Grilc, Sebastien Toutant, TJ Schneider, Chris Sörman and Dustin Craven.
The competition was briefly delayed due to high winds during the men’s quals but the riders muscled through, able to overcome the adverse conditions. The top five finishers in the men’s qualification round scored within 8 points of each other, making for an exciting competition. But no one could step to Craig Beaulieu’s winning run, not even himself. Beaulieu scored a 90.83 on his first run by starting off with a boardslide to front board 270 out, followed by a front board 270 out, throwing down a switch back 900 on the first kicker, followed by a frontside 900 on the second, into a frontside boardslide 270 out finishing with a 540 slide on the mushroom.

Result
Slopestyle Qualifications Men
1 Craig Beaulieu CAN Clyde
2 Jon Versteeg CAN Nomis
3 Jed Anderson CAN Salomon
4 Dave Schmidt CAN The Source
5 Matt Belzile CAN K2
6 Warren Williams CAN Smith
7 Teddy Karlinski USA K2
8 Logan Haubrich CAN DC
9 Ryan Hall CAN Clyde
10 Robby Balharry CAN Westbeach
11 Jesmond Dubeau CAN Billabong
12 Sage Kotsenburg USA Quiksilver
13 Eric Willett USA Smith
14 Jeremy Cloutier CAN Rossignol

If you can’t make it to Canada, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.

Day 3 of the Canadian Open

It was another balmy day in Calgary today on the third day of the Burton Canadian Open. Following yesterday’s postponement of the competition due to high winds, the second session of men’s slopestyle pre-qualifications were first on the agenda. Temps reached a record high and so did the riders who were going huge off the kickers in the park. An impressive field of 50 riders was cut down to 15, and then the next 10 highest scores from both session one and session two move on to tomorrow’s slopestyle qualification round.
The judges were impressed with the creativity they were seeing on course, like that of Matt Munn who pulled a Michael Jackson to knee slide on the down box, stomping it and proceeding to unbuckle his back foot and bust out a fast plant on the mushroom cap.

But it was Warren Williams who landed the top spot in men’s session two of slope pre-quals with a run that started off with a 270 board slide into a 270 front board 270 out, followed by a frontside 180 switch 50/50 180 out on the street rail, followed by a switch backside 900 on the first kicker followed by a huge frontside 1080, then pulled a 50/50 on the dance floor to 50/50 on the box, and ended with a frontside 360 over the mushroom.

1 Warren Williams CAN Smith
2 Drew Brighton USA DC
3 Craig Beaulieu CAN Clyde
4 Sage Kotsenburg USA Quiksilver
5 Kael Hill CAN DC Shoe Co
6 Dave Schmidt CAN The Source
7 Ryan Anderson USA Burton
8 Jesmond Dubeau CAN Billabong
9 John Murphy USA Analog
10 Robby Balharry CAN Westbeach
11 Matt Munn CAN Electric Visual
12 Mike Osachuk CAN Northwave
13 Colin Clarke USA Bonfire
14 Chris Willett USA Smith
15 Francis Bourgeois CAN Rossignol

Also advancing on to the men’s slopestyle qualifications are Robert Blank, Christopher Waker, Charles White, Josh Sherman, Jonathan Cheever, Pierce Mimura, Kiichiro Kazumi, Mitch Crowshaw, Tanner Davidson and Pierre Houde.

Then it was the ladies turn to drop into the pipe for women’s halfpipe qualifications this afternoon. A field of over 20 riders was cut in half, those lucky remaining ladies advancing on to Saturday’s semi-finals where they will battle it out for a piece of the $50,000 prize purse. The girls were getting good amplitude and putting together solid runs, and Canada’s own Palmer Taylor landed the first qualifying spot with a run that started off with a frontside 540 mute, into a stylish method, followed by a frontside stalefish, then a backside tailgrab, into a frontside 720.

Result
Halfpipe Qualifications Women
1 Palmer Taylor CAN Burton
2 Kimberly Cameron CAN Frontside Board
3 Katie Tsuyuki CAN Sony
4 Jordie Karlinski USA Nikita
5 Julianne Brackett USA Betty Rides
6 Calynn Irwin CAN K2
7 Spencer O`Brien CAN Burton
8 Lauren Shanahan CAN ---
9 Kara Rennie CAN Nikita
10 Kubik Susanna CAN Skaters Boardshop

The action continues tomorrow at COP with men’s and women’s slopestyle qualifications. If you can’t make it to Canada, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.

Canadian Open coverage rolling in!

Holy Chinook! Day Two Cut Short at Burton Canadian Open

A Chinook, a phenomenon well known to Calgarians, affected today’s events on the second day of the first annual Burton Canadian Open. On tap this morning were men’s slopestyle pre-qualifications, session one and two, narrowing a field of 100 to 40 by the day’s end. 15 riders from session one and two and the top 10 scores thereafter were to move on to Friday’s slopestyle qualification round. However, Mother Nature had other plans.

Temperatures soared to nearly 15°c, the unseasonably warm weather attributed to a Chinook, rapid winds originating off the Pacific coast that warm as they drop down the eastern side of the mountains. Although the air temperature was reminiscent of a spring day of riding, the strong winds reaching 64 km/hr proved to be a challenge for the riders and judges alike.
At the start of session one, the guys were going big and throwing down in the slopestyle course which contains rails, boxes, kickers, and a whimsical feature- a mushroom cap. Canadian Will Lavigne came out on top in session one with a run that started off with a switch backside 50/50 to backside 180 out on the flat down, followed backside 270 to board slide 270 out on the street rail, into a backside 540 on the first kicker followed by a switch backside 540, pulling a lipslide 180 on the down rail, and ending with a 360 slide on the mushroom.
The winds proved to be too much by the end of practice for session two, resulting in the day’s competition getting cut short. The action continues tomorrow with men’s session two slopestyle pre-qualifications in the morning followed by women’s halfpipe qualifications in the afternoon.

Results
Slopestyle Pre-Qualifications Men Session I
1 Will Lavigne CAN Rome
2 Eric Willett USA Smith
3 Mark McMorris CAN O`Neill
4 Matt Belzile CAN K2
5 Jed Anderson CAN Salomon
6 Logan Haubrich CAN DC
7 Josh Warnick USA Billabong
8 Zak Stone CAN K2
9 Teddy Karlinski USA K2
10 Ryan Hall CAN Clyde
11 Joseph Hills CAN ---
12 Andrew Matthews CAN Westbeach
13 Jeremy Cloutier CAN Rossignol
14 Jon Versteeg CAN Nomis
15 Dwayne Wiebe CAN Rossignol

Canadian Open Underway

The first day of the much anticipated inaugural Burton Canadian Open 2009 Snowboarding Championships kicked off this morning under partly cloudy skies at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta. A field of 48 men, whom would be whittled to 20 by the end of the day, were registered and raring to go as they took to the 22’ superpipe.

The oldest rider, 62-year-old BGOS veteran Dick Schulze (USA) was first to drop followed by the youngest rider of the day, 10-year-old Jack Collins (CAN). The majority of the field was made of up local legends like Jed Anderson and Josh Duncan; in addition Canadians like Harrison Gray, Daniel Longo and Trevor Niblett. Representing the Bahamas was Olympic team rider, Korath Wright, feeling the weight of a nation on his shoulders.

Heat one and two dropped alternately in a best of two run qualification round. Highest scoring run of the day was landed by Daniel Longo on his second run which started off with a frontside 720 melon, into a Cab 7 mute, followed by back-to-back 900’s, finishing things off with a stylish air to fakie. Drew Brighton out of SLC placed first in his heat with a run that started with a big frontside air, into a backside 900 tailgrab followed by back-to-back 540’s, finishing with a crippler 720.

The top 10 finishers in each heat move on to Saturday’s semifinals where they will face world-class riders like Brad Martin, Jeff Batchelor, Dustin Craven, Charles Reid and Jack Mitrani.

The Burton Canadian Open action continues tomorrow with men’s slopestyle prequals. The Canadian Open is the fourth stop on the Burton Global Open Series and offers riders the chance to earn points towards a male and female championship title, each worth $100,000, currently the largest single payout in competitive snowboarding.

If you can’t make it to Calgary, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.

Results

Halfpipe Qualifications Men
Heat 1
1 Drew Brighton USA DC
2 Trevor Niblett CAN Trace Apparel
3 Chad Oliver USA Burton
4 Kyle Thomas CAN ---
5 Josh Warnick USA Billabong
6 Tanner Davidson CAN Forum
7 Robby Balharry CAN Westbeach
8 Nick Saar CAN ---
9 Matthew Pasutto CAN Waffle Cone
10 Gerald Austman CAN ---

Halfpipe Qualifications Men
Heat 2
1 Daniel Longo CAN Salomon
2 Jed Anderson CAN Salomon
3 Harrison Gray CAN Burton
4 Christopher Waker USA Burton
5 Sage Kotsenburg USA Quiksilver
6 Ryan Rausch CAN Ripcurl
7 Josh Duncan CAN Sentury
8 Ryan Hall CAN Clyde
9 Jeremy Page USA ---
10 Peter White CAN ---