Men's Podium

The first night of the Grand Prix/Olympic Qualifiers hit Park City last night, and coincided directly with a massive snowstorm and the Sundance Film Festival. Madness enough alone, you can probably imagine the traffic caused by riled up snowboarders, 40,000 festival guests, and horrible roads.

Nonetheless, the storm was kind enough to let up halfway through the contest, and the riding reached never before seen levels.

Top men s finisher Shaun White dropped three double corks, two back to back, and quite possibly gave a preview of the new mandatory Olympic Gold/podium quality runs. His score of 49, one point shy of perfection, solidified his reputation as the most dominant half pipe rider of the year, and perhaps of all time.

A double Mctwist 1260 right in the judges faces might have been the highlight of the night, although OG Rob Kingwell busted a freestyle rap through Hannah Teter's whole run, which was equally impressive. Second place finisher Scotty Lago seems to more or less have locked down his spot on the Olympic team, and not a single guest of the event is going to deny how much he deserves it.

The kid rides like a BEAST, dropping bombs shock and awe style the whole way down the pipe. Third place finisher Greg Bretz casually tossed hammers like a 7, a 9, and double cork 1080, and a frontside 1260. Young bucks Zack Black and Matt Ladley both broke themselves off pretty good on their first runs, while their second runs reflected their pain and had them finishing lower than expected.

In women s news, it was Kelly Clark, Hannah Teter, and Ellery Hollingsworth who rode to the top of the podium, and it looks like Burton pretty much owns the best women s pipe riders in the world. Ellery made the only notable run, with a 5, a 7, and two nines, which is what the people have wanted to see out of women s halfpipe riding for a long time.

I heard one established pro (who will remain nameless) say women s halfpipe riding is more embarrassing than the WNBA. I m going to remain neutral on this topic, but when you compare Kelly s winning run and amplitude to Shaun s winning run and amplititude, you can kinda get the jist of that quote.

Perhaps a competing in a 22ft halfpipe made more or less for men is holding the girls back, maybe it s their dainty and light weight for maybe its just in their heads and they need to f*&^(ing send it once in a while. None-the-less, they all go twice as big as I do in the pipe, so remember that before you accuse me talking shit.

If you are in Utah, get up to Park City tonight for the final Grand Prix/Olympic Qualifiers from 6-9pm, as it s going to be one of THE best spectator events of the winter.