KILLINGTON, Vermont (March 16) - Salt Lake City Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) rocked the pipe hard to win the halfpipe competition as well as the overall season title at the Killington stop of the Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix Sunday. © - C.Thayer In the women's competition, golden girl Clark made her act impossible to follow, blowing it up for her third Grand Prix title with a frontside air, backside 5, frontside 5, backside air, frontside 7. "It's great. All my family is here watching and supporting me. It's always nice to do so well when you're so close to home," said Clark, who's win of the Chevy truck last year led her to give her new one away to someone special. "I'm going to give my truck to my dad because I won one last year. My dad really needs a new car and I think my whole family will be really happy if I give it to him." U.S. Snowboarding hot shots Ellery Hollingsworth (Stratton, VT) and Clair Bidez (Minturn, CO) took the second and third-place podiums with ferocious runs that had the ladies hucking big to box out the women's field.  © - C.Thayer Hollingsworth put up an air, frontside 7, cab 7, frontside 5, backside 5, frontside air, to make her mark in second. "It feels good to be doing so well and getting better at each contest," Hollingsworth said. "I've been traveling with Kelly Clark quite a bit in the last month and it just helps a lot riding with her because she rides awesome. It helps me because I'm just riding at her level and trying to get up there." Earlier Sunday morning, select athletes participated in the Paul Mitchell Progression Session, which featured a world class slopestyle laid out with two double rail options and a jump line with four jumps, with each one getting progressively bigger. Claudia Fliri of Austria won the women's session. U.S. Snowboarding is off to Stratton, VT, to compete in the Burton Open before closing out its season. "The team absolutely performed so well tonight. It's been a long week and a long season but we made it through to March," U.S. Snowboarding Halfpipe Head Coach Mike Jankowski said. "Everyone was able to throw down the run that they were here to throw down and that's what we come to do everywhere we go." The event closed the curtains on a season of epic halfpipe competition at the Chevy U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, but with next year comes a new tour, perfectly seasoned veterans, and a fresh crop of riders to watch. OFFICIAL RESULTS 2008 CHEVY U.S. SNOWBOARDING GRAND PRIX Killington, VT - March 16, 2008 Slopestyle |
