Yea, Shaun White had no problems beating a very stacked field of riders today at the opening round of the Grand Prix of Snowboarding. It all went down in the pipe at Breckenridge where the high was 11 and the low was minus 14, ouch. Even Steve Fisher, who lives in Breck said it was “way too cold”. Speaking of Steve Fisher, Steve followed right on Shaun’s heel steps with two very solid runs. Following Steve was Elijah Teter.
Elijah’s 3rd place run consisted of a huge backside 7 into a switch Method to cab 7 to front 9 to back 9. Steve’s run was made up of the following; frontside air, back 9, front 7, cab 10, front 10. So what did Mr. White do? Let us see; Lien, back 9, front 10, cab 10, melon front 9, Mctwist, all to win it in his first run. Shaun had one more trick in there than Steve. Shaun said the pipe looked “fantastic”
The rest of the field looked very strong too. Luke Wynen made the comment that it was similar to a US Open as far as the competitiveness went. The finalist included; Shaun White (USA), Steve Fisher (USA), Crispin Lipscomb (Canada), JJ Thomas (USA), Elijah Teter (USA), Tore-V Holvik (Norway), Justin Lamoureux (Canada), Ryoh Aono (Japan), Kohdai Watanabe (Japan), Luke Motrani (USA), Gary Zebrowski (France), Kevin Pearce (USA), Dol Wal Van Der (Netherlands)*, Keir Dillon (USA), Jack Mitrani (USA), Brad Martin (Can)
The girls were the too, we did not forget about them. It was pretty much the Gretchen Bleiler, Kelly Clark and Hannah Teter show. No one else really came close. Gretchen said the pipe “was really fun” which made sense since she won. Consistent tricks down the tube won it for Gretchen. Kelly Clark went huge but was not a consistent and got second. Hannah Teter kind of went big and tech and got third place.
Elena Hight went large but not in charge enough to podium
Danny Davis seemed to be having the most fun even though he failed to make the finals. All the riders were having fun, riding all day, enjoying the real snow.
Women’s event winner Gretchen Bleiler and friend
Steve Fisher rocking the MFM steez
Siblings Teter – Hannah and Elijah. Hey they both got third today!
Shaun White seemed stoked to be there
Louie Vito, Hannah Teter and Luke Mitrani
The Shaun!
Ellery Hollingsworth got 4th place in the women’s group
Kelly Clark – front 7 and second place
Kevin Pearce was on fire – 5th place
This guy, Gary Zebrowski, was from France and Tahiti. Obviously he learned to ride in France and not Tahiti
Steve Fisher beat Shaun at the X Games but today he had to settle for second – he was pumped though
Shaun White – crazy ass back 9 in his winning run
Gretchen Bleiler cripples her way to first
Kevin Pearce-massive front 7
Women’s podium, Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark and my favorite, Gretchen Bleiler
Cheers Jack Mitrani, both him and his brother Luke made the finals
Steve Fisher right after his kick ass second run
Keir Dillon what 20 feet out. Keir got 4th place against a serious bunch of snowboarders, then took over the mic for Fuel TV during the exhibition later. Talk about multi tasking
Shaun White – frontside melon
Kohdai Watanabe from Japan
Hannah Teter, third place…
and her brother Elijah, third place
Results:
Women
1. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 45.3
2. Kelly Clark, Mount Snow, VT, 42.6
3. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 41.9
4. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 39.4
5. Soko Yamaoka, Japan, 32.5
6. Kait Farrington, Bellevue, ID, 29.7
7. Anne Pellissier, France, 27.6
8. Elena Hight, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 26.1
Men
1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, CA, 48.4
2. Steven Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 47.8
3. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 44.5
4. Keir Dillon, Carlsbad, CA, 44.3
5. Kevin Pearce, Norwich, VT, 44.2
6. Brad Martin, Canada, 43.4
7. Luke Mitrani, Scottsdale, AZ, 40.9
8. Ryoh Aono, Japan, 40.1
9. Gary Zebrowski, France, 39.7
10. J.J. Thomas, Golden, CO, 39
11. Dol Wal Van Der, Netherlands, 36.6
12. Tore-V. Holvik, Norway, 36.6
13. Justin Lamoureux, Canada, 34.7
14. Crispi Lipscomb, Canada, 33.5
15. Kohdai Watanabe, Japan, 20.8
16. Jack Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 17.2