Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Halfpipe Women’s Qualifications – Day Three of the US Open
STRATTON, VT (March 19, 2009) Over 50 women took to the halfpipe today for qualifications amid variable weather conditions at Stratton Mountain Resort on the third day of the US Open in Vermont. Only five lucky ladies would earn spots in Saturday’s semi-final competition where they would face riders like Olympic Gold Medalist, Kelly Clark, X-Games Gold Medalist Torah Bright, and TTR World Champion Jamie Anderson.
Canadian Open halfpipe winner Palmer Taylor was boosting, Kendall Brown threw down some solid runs, Cilka Sardar and Elizabeth Beerman all looked solid, earning their places in Saturday’s semis, but it was Norwegian Linn Haug that took the top spot with her first run that started off with a big frontside stalefish, followed by a clean method, followed by a frontside 540, into a McTwist, finishing with a nosegrab.
Result
Halfpipe Qualifications Women
1 Linn Haug NOR BURTON
2 Elizabeth Beerman USA DC
3 Cilka Sadar SLO ---
4 Kendall Brown NZL ROXY
5 Palmer Taylor CAN BURTON
The US Open action continues tomorrow with men’s and women’s slopestyle qualifiers, the invitational quarterpipe competition and concert featuring RJD2. The US Open is the last 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.
The 2009 US Open halfpipe, slopestyle and quarterpipe action can be seen on NBC, Sunday, March 29 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST. If you can’t make it to Stratton, watch all of the semi-finals and finals live on March 21 and 22 on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event concludes.
Burton would like to thank Stratton Mountain Resort, Volvo, SoBe, Go211.com, Paul Mitchell, Virgin America, GORE-TEX®, Corona, Emergen-C, Shiseido, R.E.D., ANON, Analog and Gravis for their support of the US Open. For more information on the US Open, head to www.opensnowboarding.com
Photo Credit: Jake Stangel
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Slopestyle Men’s Prequalifications – Day Two of the US Open
STRATTON, VT (March 18, 2009) The second day of the 27th annual US Open saw a field of 121 men vying for 40 spots in Friday’s slopestyle qualification round. Of those 40, only ten will move on to Sunday’s semi-finals where they will face invited riders like Chas Guldemond, Shaun White, Tim Humpreys, Charles Reid, Risto Mattila and Sebastien Toutant.
It was another warm day at Stratton Mountain as the first session of men’s pre-qualifiers dropped into Snowpark Technology’s slopestyle course that featured a gap to down, flat box, up rails, and four kickers. Riders like Sage Kotsenburg, Drew Brighton, and Spencer Link were looking solid but Greg Bretz was untouchable. Both of his qualifying runs scored well over his next closest competitor, his second run scored a whopping 82 points, he started off with a frontside boardslide on the box, followed by a boardslide switch-up on the box, into a Cab 540 mute on the first kicker, followed by a big and clean backside 720 nosegrab, followed by a frontside 720 tailgrab, finishing with a backside 900 mute.
Slopestyle Pre-Qualifications Men Session I
1 Greg Bretz USA FORUM
2 Spencer Link USA DC SHOE CO USA
3 Ryan Hryckiewicz USA SKYLER THOMAS
4 Jeremy Thompson USA FLOW
5 Sage Kotsenburg USA QUIKSILVER
6 Zak Stone CAN K2
7 Eric Beauchemin USA DC SHOE CO USA
8 Drew Brighton USA DC
9 Ulrik Badertscher NOR NIKE ACG
10 Jacob Aaronson USA DSM INC.
11 Zeppelin Zeerip USA GNU
12 Josh Sherman USA O MATIC
13 Broc Waring USA NIKE6.0
14 Carson Pippin USA ---
15 Sean Ryan USA FORUM
16 Danny Garrity USA GNU
17 Davis Johnson USA SALOMON
18 Bryan Daino USA SIMS
19 Joacim Nyhaugen NOR BATALEON
Although the skies darkened and the rain began to fall in the afternoon, the second session of men were undeterred and took to the course for prequals. Christian Haller, Ryan Stassel and Jake Knigge were holding it down, but Petja Piiroinen, younger brother of Peetu, killed it with a clean run that started off with a 50/50 on the downrail, followed by a 50/50 front 180 out, into a Cab 900 mute on the first kicker followed by an awesome backside 720 melon, into a big frontside 720 tailgrab, finishing with a backside 900.
Slopestyle Pre-Qualifications Men Session II
1 Petja Piiroinen FIN BILLABONG
2 Jake Knigge USA GNU
3 Christian Haller SUI BURTON
4 Ryan Stassel USA BURTON
5 Mark Hoyt USA LIB
6 Mark McMorris CAN O´NEILL
7 Silas Hatch USA BURTON
8 John Murphy USA ANALOG
9 Michael Goldschmidt USA MARY JANE
10 Jeremy Cloutier CAN ROSSIGNOL
11 Jack Kyle USA ---
12 Josh Warnick USA BILLABONG
13 Wes Walsh USA OAKLEY
14 Scott James AUS DC
15 Joe Mango USA RIDE
16 Paul Brichta USA BURTON
17 Skyler Thomas USA ---
18 Merrick Joyce USA K2
19 Hunter Wood USA NIKE6.0
20 Hans Mindnich USA BURTON
21 Derek Livingston CAN ICARUS SKATE &
The US Open action continues tomorrow with women’s halfpipe qualifiers. The US Open is the last 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.
The 2009 US Open halfpipe, slopestyle and quarterpipe action can be seen on NBC, Sunday, March 29 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST. If you can’t make it to Stratton, watch all of the semi-finals and finals live on March 21 and 22 on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event concludes.
Burton would like to thank Stratton Mountain Resort, Volvo, SoBe, Go211.com, Paul Mitchell, Virgin America, GORE-TEX®, Corona, Emergen-C, Shiseido, R.E.D., ANON, Analog and Gravis for their support of the US Open. For more information on the US Open, head to www.opensnowboarding.com
Day 1 at the US Open
2009 US Open Snowboarding Championships Underway
120 Men Compete for Ten Spots in Saturday’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals
STRATTON, VT (March 17, 2009) The first day of the Burton US Open 2009 Snowboarding Championships kicked off this morning amid balmy temps and bluebird skies at Vermont’s Stratton Mountain Resort. A field of 120 men, whom would be whittled to a mere 10 by the end of the day, was registered and raring to go as they took to the 22’ Planet Snow superpipe.
Session 1, heats one and two dropped alternately in a best of two run pre-qualification round. Christopher Waker and Norway’s Stale Sandbech were looking strong from the start but it was Trevor Jacob, spinning to win and placing first in his heat by starting off with a frontside 1080, followed by a Cab 7, into a frontside inverted 5, followed by backside 5, finishing with a front 7.
Zack Black landed the top spot in the second heat with a run that started off with a huge frontside 9 followed by a backside 7, followed by a ridiculous switch backside inverted 7, finishing with a backside air.
Halfpipe Pre-Qualifications Men Session I
Heat 1
1 Trevor Jacob USA FORUM
2 Stale Sandbech NOR OAKLEY
3 Jeremy Thompson USA FLOW
4 Hunter Wood USA NIKE6.0
5 Benjamin Farrow USA OKEMO
6 Anthony Donofrio ITA BURTON
7 Sage Kotsenburg USA QUIKSILVER
8 Spencer Shaw USA UNDER ARMOR
9 Scotty Pike USA SMITH
10 Josh Warnick USA BILLABONG
Halfpipe Pre-Qualifications Men Session I
Heat 2
1 Zack Black USA ---
2 Christopher Waker USA BURTON
3 Brennen Swanson USA RIDE
4 Daniel Longo CAN ---
5 Paul Brichta USA BURTON
6 Nick Fuca USA RIDE
7 Tanner Barrett USA BUNGER
8 Blake Eddington USA SESSIONS
9 Kyle Mack USA BURTON
10 Nicholas Sibayan USA BILLABONG
The pipe crew performed a quick maintenance, salting and slipping the pipe which was rapidly eroding in the relentless spring sun, and then it was time for the second session of men to drop. Riders like Ben Watts and Nate Farrell were going huge, but Park City’s Drew Brighton finished first with a run that started with a lofty frontside air, followed by a backside 900, followed by back-to-back 7’s, finishing with an alley-oop backside rodeo. Canadian rider Harrison Gray finished first in his heat with a run consisting of a Michalchuk into a frontside 900, followed by a stylish method air, followed by a frontside 720, finishing with a Cab 720.
Halfpipe Pre-Qualifications Men Session II
Heat 1
1 Drew Brighton USA DC
2 Nate Farrell USA GNU
3 Ben Watts USA BURTON
4 Petja Piiroinen FIN BILLABONG
5 Bryan Daino USA SIMS
6 Joseph Mensch USA FLOW
7 Nils Mindnich USA BURTON
8 Austin Schweyher USA SMS
9 Theodore James (TJ) USA BURTON
10 Carter Smalley USA BURTON
Halfpipe Pre-Qualifications Men Session II
Heat 2
1 Harrison Gray CAN BURTON
2 Skyler Thomas USA NITRO
3 Derek Livingston CAN ICARUS SKATE &
4 Connor Leach USA OAKLEY
5 Tyler Troy USA TEAM SUMMIT
6 Tim Humphreys USA FLOW
7 Tyler Emond USA ---
8 Dylan Bidez USA FLOW
9 Anthony Wolf CAN ICARUS SKATE &
10 Taylor Gold USA BURTON
40 men from pre-qualifications advanced on to the afternoon’s qualification round, fighting for one of only ten spots in Saturday’s semifinals, where they will face halfpipe greats like Shaun White, Scotty Lago, Steve Fisher and Kevin Pearce. Top finishers Zack Black and Harrison Gray looked strong in their runs, but Stale Sandbech edged them both out of the top spot with a run that started off with a frontside 540, followed by a backside air, into a frontside 720, followed by a Cab 1080, into a frontside air, backside 900, finishing with an alley-oop backside rodeo.
Halfpipe Qualifications Men
1 Stale Sandbech NOR OAKLEY
2 Zack Black USA ---
3 Harrison Gray CAN BURTON
4 Jeremy Thompson USA FLOW
5 Tyler Emond USA ---
6 Nate Farrell USA GNU
7 Trevor Jacob USA FORUM
8 Derek Livingston CAN ICARUS SKATE &
9 Christopher Waker USA BURTON
10 Tim Humphreys USA FLOW
The US Open action continues tomorrow with men’s slopestyle prequals. The US Open is the last 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.
The 2009 US Open halfpipe, slopestyle and quarterpipe action can be seen on NBC, Sunday, March 29 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. EST. If you can’t make it to Stratton, watch all of the semi-finals and finals live on March 21 and 22 on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event concludes.
Burton would like to thank Stratton Mountain Resort, Volvo, SoBe, Go211.com, Paul Mitchell, Virgin America, GORE-TEX®, Corona, Emergen-C, Shiseido, R.E.D., ANON, Analog and Gravis for their support of the US Open. For more information on the US Open, head to www.opensnowboarding.com
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