CYPRESS MOUNTAIN, Kelly Clark (Mt. Snow, VT) took to what will be the 2010 Olympic pipe Saturday to win a World Cup during test events for the Games at Cypress Mountain, BC.
Clark led the way for the women for the second weekend in a row with Jiayu Liu of China second and Teter third.
"This is probably the deepest field of athletes we have seen this year from any event. There were some incredible snowboarders here today," Clark said.
Clark put down a backside 5, frontside 7, cab 3, frontside 5, backside air to win the event.
According to Clark, pipe conditions were such that one had to be on their A game in order to ride it perfectly.
"Today was the best day for the halfpipe. It got a little bit more vert. It's still a bit soft in the flat bottom. You have to be really technically on top of your game because any edging will slow you down a lot," Clark said.
Teter was happy to be able to start off her road to the Olympics with a bronze medal in the halfpipe.
"I really liked it [the pipe] my third place is a really good way to start out my experience in this Olympic pipe," Teter said.
The alpine portion of the World Cup at Cypress Mountain was canceled late Saturday night due to unsuitable course conditions.
"The coaches as well as the jury agreed to this. We want a higher standard of a race course," U.S. Snowboarding Alpine Head Coach Steve Persons said. "We are disappointed that SBX was a day away from us because it's not enough time to get the proper quality of course."
Organizers hope to reschedule and have a double event at the Stoneham World Cup, which runs Feb. 18-22, but an official decision has yet to be made.
OFFICIAL RESULTS 2009 LG SNOWBOARD FIS WORLD CUP Cypress Mountain, BC - Feb. 14, 2009 Halfpipe
Women 1. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, CO, 42.6 2. Jiayu Liu, China, 39.0 3. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 38.8 4. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 37.0 5. Sophir Rodriguez, France, 34.4 - 8. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 33.2 - 16. Elena Hight, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 33.0 18. Kaitlyn Farrington, Sun Valley, ID, 31.2
