We’re now in the middle of the Winter Olympics, with two of my favorite events behind us: Women’s and Men’s Olympic Halfpipe.
First I’d like to talk about the ladies. We had many great competitors on the US Olympic Team, including Kelly Clark (a past Olympic gold medalist in this event), Gretchen Bleiler (totally awesome, and the gold medalist in Superpipe at the X Games two weeks ago), Hannah Teter (recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit model… haha), and Elena Hight. Gretchen Bleiler was favored in this event (by many people besides myself), but she wasn’t able to put together a winning run. During her first, she got hung up on her signature move the Crippler. She landed it in her second run, but hit the deck on a Cab 720 on her next air.
Hannah Teter was one of the few athletes who was in good standing after the first round of finals. She had already secured a score of 42.4 with a run that included a Cab 720 and a 900.
The winner of the event was in last place at the end of the first round, and was in the least desirable position in the second. She was going first.
Torah Bright from Australia suffered two pretty gnarly falls in the first round, and went into the second with a score of only 5.9. But for me, it really was the comeback of the year. She started off her run with a huge backside 360 right to a switch McTwist 720. Delivering her next 3 tricks with ease, she earned a final score of 45.0
No one could catch her in the second round, and the event ended with Bright in 1st, Teter in 2nd and Kelly Clark in 3rd with a 42.2.
Here are some pictures from Transworld Snowboarding to help you visualize.
Torah Bright:
Hannah Teter:
Kelly Clark:
Xtremethings 