These three venues will progressively determine which riders truly have what it takes to rock the gold in Vancouver.
The beginning of the official trail to Olympic glory started yesterday with Gretchen Bleiler stealing first at the women’s qualifiers event, with their finals on Saturday. 50 ladies threw down in the pipe at Copper in Colorado, with two heats determining the final eight for Saturday’s event.
1st Gretchen Bleiler:
Women’s Grand Prix Qualifiers:
- Gretchen Bleiler, 47.1
- Kelly Clark, 45.7
- Soko Yamaoka, 43.5
- Maddy Schaffrick, 43.2
- Quera Castellet, 43
- Ellery Hollindsworth, 41.4
- Holly Crawford, 41.1
- Clair Bidez, 41.07 (everyone else has her listed at 41.70, but they’re wrong)
Dreams will be made and broken during the 2010 US Snowboarding Grand Prix as the tour makes three stops in its 14th season. A total of five Olympic qualification competitions will take place at Copper Mountain in Colorado’s Summit County and Mammoth Mountain in the Mammoth Lakes region of California. The tour will make its final stop at Park City Mountain Resort, the venue for the 2002 Olympics, to announce the 2010 Olympic halfpipe team.
The Grand Prix series will narrow down the competition for Olympic spots through its first two tour stops and solidify the 2010 team at the final event in Park City. “Copper, Mammoth and Park City are all classic Grand Prix sites and will provide a most fitting stage on which to name the Olympic halfpipe team for 2010,” said Grand Prix Tour Director Eric Webster. “Copper, Mammoth and Park City all have a proven track record in hosting world class snowboard events, which lends confidence to the riders and coaches in a season with so much on the line.” Each with their own 22′ halfpipe, these three venues will progressively determine which riders truly have what it takes to rock the gold in Vancouver.
The competition will heat up as Olympic gold medalists Kelly Clark (Snow Mountain, VT), Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT), and Shaun White (Carlsbad, CA), along with fellow Olympic medalists Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO), JJ Thomas (Golden, CO) and Danny Kass (Portland, OR) all look for another shot at Olympic glory. Joining them in the hunt will be Grand Prix overall champions Steve Fisher (Breckenridge, CO) and Louie Vito (Sandy, UT) as well as Grand Prix podium performers Ellery Hollingsworth (Stratton, VT), Clair Bidez (Minturn, CO) Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, CA) and Olympian Elena Hight (South Lake Tahoe, CA).
2010 US Snowboard Grand Prix Schedule:
- Dec. 10-12, 2009, Copper Mountain
- Jan. 6-10, 2010, Mammoth Mountain
- Jan. 22-23, 2010, Park City Mountain (followed by the Vancouver Olympic Team Announcement)
Check out US Snowboarding for more information about the Grand Prix Tour and its venues.
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Which rider are you gunning for, my snowboarder amigo?
