2012/2013 Winter Sports Thread

[Smallville22]

Speed Skating World Cup

Lee edging closer to 500m world record

Lee Sang-Hwa raced to within five hundredths of a second of the 500m world record as she maintained her unbeaten start to the speed skating World Cup season over the distance in Calgary.
The 23-year-old has been untouchable over 500m, the distance in which she won Olympic gold at Vancouver 2010, this season and took the opportunity to demonstrate just how much in Canada.
South Korean Lee clocked the fastest time out of all seven of her World Cup wins, ducking just under the 37-second barrier in 36.99, just 0.05 shy Chinese skater Yu Jing's world record.
Yu set the mark in Calgary this time last year but, with a second 500m race to come on Sunday, Lee, who has a 264-point lead at the top of the World Cup standings for the distance, could well break it.
American Heather Richardson was only 0.13 shy of Lee for second in Calgary while Yu herself was third a further 0.16 back with Jenny Wolf, who is second overall, placing eighth.
Richardson wasn't to be denied a victory in the 1000m shortly afterwards though and she was a clear winner for her third victory in the distance this season while Lee was down in 12th.
The 23-year-old won by over half a second to move back to the top of the overall World Cup standings for the distance while Christine Nesbitt was second and fellow American Brittany Bowe third.
Richardson leads Karolina Erbanova, who was 10th, by 47 points while Olympic 1000m champion Nesbitt moved up to third courtesy of her second-place finish 92 points behind overall.
Meanwhile in the men's 500m, Jan Smeekens claimed his second win of the season by 0.04 with Pekka Koskela and Jamie Gregg clocking the same time behind the Dutch skater.
Koskela was given second and Gregg third with Smeekens leading the overall World Cup standings by 84 points ahead of Japan's Joji Kato, who had to make do with fourth in Calgary.
In the 1000m double Olympic champion Shani Davis claimed a second win for America on the night, clocking 1:07.49minutes to beat off the charge of Dutch skaters Kjeld Nuis and Michel Mulder by 0.15 and 0.38 respectively.
Nuis leads the World Cup standings with a total of 390 points with another Dutchman Hein Otterspeer, who was sixth, second with 355 and then Davis in third 15 further back.


Lee sets 500m world record in Calgary

Sang-Hwa Lee delivered what was expected of her on the second day of the speed skating World Cup in Calgary, a new 500m world record on the way to an eighth straight win.
The Olympic 500m champion gave a glimpse that she had the potential to better Yu Jing's mark, set 12 months ago, after skating to within five hundredths of a second of it on day one.
Lee clocked 36.99 seconds to win maintain her 100 per-cent World Cup record in the 500m this season before smashing Yu's time of 36.94, recorded in Calgary, to pieces on day two.
The South Korean skater took 0.14 seconds off it, posting 36.80 to take victory again over American Heather Richardson but this time by well over a half a second instead of just over a tenth.
Richardson, who was to later win her second 1000m race in Canada, was 0.62 adrift in second with Margot Boer a further 0.12 back in third before Yu of China in fourth.
Lee now leads the overall World Cup standings for the 500m by 319 points and, with only four races left of the season, she will undoubtedly strip Yu of her title.
Richardson was also a comfortable winner in the 1000m for the second time in Calgary, her margin over recently crowned European allround champion Ireen Wust 0.59.
Teammate Brittany Bowe sealed a second third in the distance in Canada with Richardson extending her overall lead to 87 points with second-placed Erbanova fourth this time.
Jan Smeekens followed Lee and Richardson's leads by winning his second men's 500m race in Calgary to edge further away from Joji Kato of Japan in the overall standings.
The Dutch skater beat Kato by 0.05 for victory with teammate Michel Mulder third while Hein Otterspeer ensured the four skaters that won on Saturday didn't all win again a day later.
Otterspeer clocked 1:07.76minutes to deny Saturday's winner in the 1000m, Shani Davis, another victory and overtake compatriot Kjeld Nuis in the World Cup standings.
Two-time Olympic 1000m champion Davis was 0.07 behind Otterspeer and, with Nuis third, the Dutchman now has a five-point lead over his teammate with a total of 455.

 

[Smallville22]

Speed Skating World Championships

Richardson and Mulder win world sprint titles

Heather Richardson became the first American to win the ladies' title at the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships since 2005 as the men's crown was also put into new hands.
The 23-year-old, who has been in fine form in the 1000m on the World Cup circuit this season with four wins for the overall lead, was placed second overnight on home ice in Utah. Richardson finished third in the 500m and 1000m on Saturday however an improved performance, and a win, a day later ensured she moved up into first place. The American was fourth in the second 500m race however a win in the second 1000m race, a distance over which she is so dominant currently, saw her claim her first world medal and title. It also marked the first time in eight years that an American has won the ladies' World Sprint Speed Skating Championships with Jennifer Rodriguez the last to do so at the same Salt Lake City venue in 2005. Jing Yu, the defending champion who held the overnight lead, moved down into second overall after a fifth and a fourth while Sang-Hwa Lee, winner in 2010, took bronze. Lee ducked under the 37-second barrier once again to win the 500m, in which she is the world record holder after posting 36.80 in Calgary last weekend, but was eighth in the 1000m. Meanwhile Michel Mulder also claimed his first-ever medal and first-ever gold at the World Sprint Speed Skating Championships to ensure the men's title stayed in Dutch hands for another year. Mulder was fifth in the 500m and third in the 1000m on the opening night for the overall lead and, while he didn't win again in either race a day later, he was rewarded for his greater consistency. He was 16th in the second 500m race however second in the second 1000m event saw him finish top of the pile just ahead of Pekka Koskela and teammate Hein Otterspeer and repeat Stefan Groothuis’ effort from last year. Koskela was ninth and sixth on the second night for silver, repeating his effort from the 2007 Championships, while Otterspeer was 18th and first for bronze and his first medal. Joji Kato ensured a second victory in the 500m but he couldn’t match his efforts over double the distance as a 33rd on the opening night was followed up with a 22nd to put him 22nd overall.

 

[Smallville22]

Snowboard World Championships

British duo just miss out

British duo Billy Morgan and Jenny Jones both finished just shy of the podium – the former agonisingly – as the first finals of the Snowboard World Championships took place in Stoneham.
The 23-year-old headed into his first World Championships in good form having finished fifth in the slopestyle event at the last World Cup, only the second of his career, on Copper Mountain.
Morgan also ranked second overall in qualification for the final after scoring 80.00 with his second run, only adding to the expectation that he might remain in the top three in the final.
But it wasn’t to be with Morgan falling two places to fourth with a score of 85.25 in Canada as Finland’s Roope Tonteri beat home hope Mark McMorris, who qualified first, to win gold.
Tonteri scored 93.75 to McMorris’s 92.50 to become only the second ever slopestyle world champion while team-mate Janne Korpi took third with an effort just over five points better than Morgan’s.
Meanwhile Morgan’s fellow Brit Jones, a two-time X Games slopestyle champion, also produced the second best score in qualifying but underperformed in the final and had to make do with sixth.
Jones scored 88.66 in qualifying but was nowhere near that mark in the final scoring just 20.50 on her first run before producing an effort of 12.25 on her second to put her last in the final.
In comparison Spencer O’Brien did what fellow Canadian McMorris couldn’t and took gold on home soil with an effort of 93.25 first time out with Switzerland’s Sina Candrian claiming silver with an opening score of 81.50.
Torah Bright, who won the halfpipe event at the last World Cup in Colorado, collected bronze with 77.50 before Finland’s Merika Enne in fourth with 59.50, American Ty Walker in fifth with 30.75 and then Jones.

 

[Smallville22]

Snowboard World Championships

Tonteri claims big air win

Finland's Roope Tonteri claimed victory in the men's big air event at the FIS Snowboarding World Championships in Stoneham.
Victory capped a successful weekend north of Quebec City for Tonteri, who had already won gold in the slope style event a day earlier.
Sweden's Niklas Mattsson picked up silver while Seppe Smits of Belgium claimed bronze.
Home hopes Michael Roy and Mark McMorris of Canada could only manage fifth and sixth respectively, behind fourth-placed Alexey Sobolev of Russia.

Top 10 results

1 TONTERI Roope FIN 188.50

2 MATTSSON Niklas SWE 177.75

3 SMITS Seppe BEL 149.50

4 SOBOLEV Alexey RUS 139.75

5 ROY Michael CAN 129.00

6 MCMORRIS Mark CAN 126.50

7 LUNDSTROM Tor SWE 104.50

8 PIIROINEN Petja FIN 102.50

9 MIKYSKA Martin CZE 99.25

10 NECAS Jan CZE 72.25

 

[Smallville22]

Snowboard World Championships

Gold and Podladtchikov win world halfpipe titles

American Arielle Gold prevented Holly Crawford from retaining her halfpipe crown at the Snowboard World Championships as Iouri Podladtchikov upgraded his 2011 silver to gold in Stoneham.
Gold, who won halfpipe silver at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics this time last year, proved age is little more than a number as she lived up to her name in the final in Canada.
The 16-year-old, making her World Championship debut, landed a score of 79.00 on her first run to claim the win with Crawford posting 66.25 first time out and then 77.25 with her second effort.
That relegated the Australian back to the position she finished in 2009 while France's Sophie Rodriguez completed the podium in third with a first-run effort of 72.50 for bronze.
Meanwhile in the men's halfpipe competition, Podladtchikov, who claimed silver back in 2011, won a tight final by just 0.5 points ahead of Taku Hiraoka of Japan in Stoneham.
Hiraoka set the standard after scoring 89.50 with his first run in comparison to just 64.50 from Podladtchikov however the Swiss snowboarder was up for the battle for gold.
He was awarded 94.25 for his second run with Hiraoka narrowly behind with 93.75 as Finland's Markus Malin again took bronze with a score just a point better than Podladtchikov’s teammate Christian Haller.
Britain had two representatives in the men's halfpipe competition with Vancouver Winter Olympian Ben Kilner progressing out of qualifying before ranking 16th overall with a best effort of 63.50.
That marked the Scottish snowboarder's best ever World Championship finish having claimed 38th on his debut as a 16-year-old in 2005 before ranking 51st in 2007 and then 42nd in 2009.
Meanwhile fellow Brit Dominic Harington, who is competing at his third World Championships, was 39th in qualifying to better his effort of 58th four years ago in Korea.

 

[Smallville22]

Snowboard World Championships

Benjamin wins parallel giant slalom gold at Worlds

Karl Benjamin claimed back-to-back parallel giant slalom titles at the Snowboard World Championships in Stoneham as he got the better of Roland Fischnaller in the big final.
The 27-year-old Austrian, who will aim to claim a hat-trick of parallel slalom world titles in Stoneham, made relative light work of reaching the big final in Stoneham. Benjamin's biggest test on route to facing Fischnaller came in the quarter-finals where he was first beaten by Andreas Promnegger by 0.03 seconds before recovering to defeat him by 9.60 second time out. He then made light work of Vic Wild in the semi-final before Fischnaller was disqualified in the first run of the big final and then beaten by the Austrian by 1.75 in the second. Meanwhile Wild recovered from defeat to Benjamin in the semi-final to beat Slovenian Zan Kosir in the small final for bronze, the Russian doing enough over the two runs. Meanwhile in the ladies' event Germany's Isabella Laboeck claimed her first World Championship title and prevented it from being an Austrian double in the parallel giant slalom. She made light work of progressing to the big final where she beat Julia Djumovtis by 1.50 in the first run and then by 0.68 second time out for her maiden world title. Germany were also celebrating in the small final as Laboeck's teammate Amelie Kober got the better of defending parallel slalom champion Hilde-Katrine Engeli of Norway to take bronze. Kober, the Olympic parallel giant slalom silver medallist from Turin 2006, was a comfortable winner beating Engeli by 0.79 on her first run before allowing a gap of just 0.26 as she claimed bronze.

 

[Smallville22]

Snowboard World Championships

Ricker world champion, Pullin defends men's title

Olympic champion Maelle Ricker finally got her hands on snowboard cross gold at the World Championship as Alex Pullin successfully defended his men's title in Stoneham.
Ricker is a four-time Winter X Games snowboard cross medallist, including wins in 2006 and 1999, and won Olympic gold at Vancouver 2010 however hasn't fared so well on the world stage.
She had just bronze from 2005 to her name from ten career starts at the World Championships heading into the penultimate day of action on her own snow in Canada.
However that was all about to change as Ricker stormed her way to the big final where she edged out compatriot and defending World Cup champion Dominique Maltais into second.
Maltais did upgrade her bronze from the 2011 worlds in La Molina to silver while 2009 champion Helene Olafsen of Norway had to make do with third.
Britain had representation in the form Zoe Gillings in the latter stages however she could only place fourth in the small final for tenth overall having finished seventh in 2011.
Meanwhile Pullin ensured a successful defence of the world title he won for the first time in 2011 by beating off competition from five European rivals in the six-strong big final.
Pullin edged out American duo Seth Wescott and Nate Holland in 2011 but there was nothing but Europeans to be seen with Markus Schairer claiming silver and Stian Sivertzen bronze.
Schairer won gold in 2009 before Pullin's dominance with France's Pierre Vaultier fourth, Russia's Andrey Boldykov fifth and Austria's Alessandro Haemmerle sixth.

 

[Smallville22]

Snowboard World Championships

Marguc and Tudegesheva win as worlds close

Slovenia's Rok Marguc finally got his hands on a Snowboard World Championship title as the 2013 edition came to a close in Stoneham.
The 26-year-old enjoyed his best Championships in three in La Molina in 2011 as he claimed silver in the parallel giant slalom and bronze in the parallel slalom.
However he couldn't upgrade to a gold in the parallel giant slalom in Canada on Friday, finishing 12th as Benjamin Karl successfully defended his title.
Karl was also bidding to make it three in a row in the parallel slalom however Marguc had other ideas as he cruised to the big final.
Marguc saw off Andrey Sobolev, Kaspar Fluetsch and Andreas Prommegger before coming up against Justin Reiter in the battle for gold.
Reiter got the better of Marguc by 0.48seconds in the first run of the big final however the Slovenian turned the tide in run two to win by 0.60 for gold.
That dethroned Karl as the back-to-back world champion as he lost in the quarter-finals and placed sixth overall with Roland Fischnaller claiming bronze.
The Italian beat Prommegger with ease in the small final while in the ladies' parallel slalom Ekaterina Tudegesheva returned to winning ways.
She was making her 14th World Championship start in the parallel slalom with two podium finishes, including a win in the parallel giant slalom in 2007.
Tudegesheva also won bronze in the parallel slalom in 2009 and set up a third trip to the podium and second onto the top step on the final day in Stoneham.
The Russian comfortably progressed to the big final where she made light work of defeating reigning parallel slalom World Cup champion Patrizia Kummer.
Meanwhile Germany's Amelie Kober beat Hilde-Katrine Engeli for bronze once again having also met in the small final of the parallel giant slalom.

 

[Smallville22]

Freestyle Skiing - Britain's Woods takes X Games bronze

British freestyle skier James Woods narrowly missed out on making even more history this year as he finished third in the slopestyle at his first Winter X Games.
The 21-year-old was one of just two Brits invited to compete in Aspen with Aimee Fuller finishing eighth in the women's snowboard slopestyle final.
Woods couldn't have asked for a better start on debut as he produced the best score of the qualifying round with an effort of 92.66 in Colorado.
He then placed second with an effort of 91.33 after the first run of the final with American Nick Goepper leading the way after scoring 92.33.
Woods fell on run two while Goepper upgraded his score to 94.00 on the third run while Henrik Harlaut moved into the second after being awarded 92.66.
The Brit, who leads the slopestyle World Cup standings with two victories from two this season, was the last to go in the third run in Aspen.
And, despite posting a best effort on his third run, Woods couldn't overthrow Goepper or Harlaut as he settled for bronze with a score 92.00.
Had Woods won the slopestyle, he would have been the first ever rookie to do so however he overcome a poor practice hours beforehand to take bronze.
"That was the worst practice ever. I didn't land a run, I didn't make a run down the course the whole practice," said Woods after his first run.
"So to come down and put in a 91.33 is making me feel pretty good. I want to go a lot bigger with better grabs and show off why I'm here."

 

[Smallville22]

Alpine Skiing World Cup

Hirscher, Duerr win Moscow City Event

Austria's Marcel Hirscher warmed up for next week's world championships with victory in a World Cup parallel slalom in Moscow, racing down the 200m artificial slope ahead of Sweden's Andre Myhrer.
The World Cup leader edged to victory after two close heats at the venue in the north of the city, topping the podium for the sixth time this season.
Croatia's experienced slalom specialist Ivica Kostelic confirmed his return to form by taking third place at the expense of Germany's Felix Neureuther, the winner of the previous City Event held in Munich on New Year's Day.
Hirscher, who has been on the podium of every slalom held this season, extended his lead in the overall World Cup standings to 214 points over Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal.
"Right now it is definitely very, very good. It was so close in every heat," said Hirscher, who will be the hot favourite for the slalom crown in Schladming.
"This is totally different from a normal slalom. You don't have the time to think. You can only be 100 percent. It's full gas and attack or nothing."

In the women's race, Germany's Lena Duerr seized her first World Cup victory after replacing compatriot Veronika Rebensburg, who had shunned the event.
The 21-year-old Duerr beat some of the best slalom specialists on the circuit to finally upstage Slovakia's Veronika Velez Zuzulova, the winner in Munich a month ago.
American Mikaela Shiffrin was third to increase her lead in the slalom World Cup ahead of Tina Maze.
Slovenian Maze, the overall World Cup leader, looked weary after winning a slalom at home in Maribor on Sunday and was ousted in the second run.

 

[Smallville22]

Caleb Moore, Snowmobiler, In Critical Condition After Winter X Games Crash

Snowmobiler Caleb Moore was in critical condition Tuesday in a Colorado hospital after a dramatic crash at the Winter X Games in Aspen, and a relative said the family wasn't hopeful about the 25-year-old's chances for survival.
Moore was performing a flip Thursday when he clipped the top of a jump and went over the handlebars and landed face first into the snow. The snowmobile rolled over him, but he walked off with help and went to a hospital with a concussion.
Moore later developed bleeding around his heart and was flown to a hospital in Grand Junction for surgery. The family later said that Moore, of Krum, Texas, also had a complication involving his brain.
"Caleb is not doing good at all," his grandfather Charles Moore told The Denver Post. "The prognosis is not good at all. It's almost certain he's not going to make it."
A family spokeswoman reissued a statement Tuesday thanking fans, friends and family for their support and asked for continued prayers. The family declined further comment.
A separate accident Thursday left Moore's younger brother, Colten, with a separated pelvis at Winter X, an increasingly popular event that showcases the world's best action sports athletes in a festival atmosphere.
The safety of the snowmobile events has fallen under scrutiny with several recent accidents and mishaps. In addition to the crashes by the Moore brothers, there also was a scary scene when a runaway sled veered into the crowd Sunday night after the rider fell off during a jump gone wrong.
In that incident, snowmobiling newcomer Jackson Strong tumbled off his machine during the best trick competition. The throttle stuck on the 450-pound sled and it swerved straight toward the crowd as fans scurried out of the way.
In a statement, X Games officials said their thoughts and prayers were with Caleb and his family. They also said that they've paid close attention to safety issues during the event's 18-year history.
"Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain. Caleb is a four-time X Games medalist who fell short on his rotation on a move he has landed several times previously," the statement said.
To help defray the medical costs, a website has been set up for the family. There's a picture of Moore on the site and a message that reads: "Caleb Moore is an inspiration to us all and we want to support him and his family so they may stay strong during this difficult time. If you are not familiar with Caleb, he lives life to the fullest.
"The world knows Caleb as a brilliant freestyle rider, but his family and friends know him as a fun-loving and deeply loyal person."
In addition, Strong pledged to auction off his outfit from Winter X and donate the proceeds to the Moore family.
Moore grew up racing all-terrain vehicles in Texas and later crossed over into snowmobiling, his agent, B.C. Vaught, said. Two weeks after Vaught said he taught the 17-year-old Caleb to do a backflip, he said he was ready for prime time and joined Vaught's road show, including a trip to Europe.
"Whatever he wanted to do, he did it," Vaught said.
He said Moore set up a practice ramp 70 feet long and 10 feet deep in Krum, a town of about 5,000 people 50 miles northwest of Dallas that rarely sees snow and where snowmobiles are as rare as toboggans.
Caleb began launching his snowmobile into pools of foam a month before the 2010 X Games. After a brief training run on snow ramps in Michigan, Vaught said he joined the big leagues and never looked back. In the off-months, he still uses the foam pit in Texas for practice.
Tucker Hibbert, who won his sixth straight SnoCross title at Winter X, hopes all these unfortunate incidents aren't what people think of when they think about snowmobiling.
"Obviously, at the X Games, you're seeing the most extreme side of our sport," said Hibbert, who's from Pelican Rapids, Minn. "It's definitely dangerous and exciting all at the same time. But it's also a lot different than what snowmobiling is in general.
"Friends and family riding around, going down the trails, having fun riding snowmobiles, is quite a bit different than hitting a 100-foot ramp and doing double backflips. Naturally, you'll see some injuries and some pretty big crashes when you're pushing the limits."
Vaught said Moore's only previous injury was a bruised hip that sent him to the hospital last year, where he was treated and released.
"In sports, everybody makes mistakes, even if it's rare. Caleb made a mistake. That's it," said Vaught, who witnessed Moore's crash.
The spills at Winter X weren't just limited to snowmobiles. Rose Battersby suffered a lumbar spine fracture in a wipeout on a practice run before the skiing slopestyle competition. She was transported to Denver on Sunday and had feeling in all extremities, according to X Games officials.
Soon after her crash, Ashley Battersby, who's not related to Rose, wiped out on the course and slid into the fencing. Battersby was down for at least 30 minutes before being carted off on a sled and taken to a local hospital with a knee injury.
There also was a bad wipeout in the snowboard big air competition, when Halldor Helgason of Iceland suffered a concussion when he over-rotated on a flip. He raised his hand to salute the crowd as he was being taken off the icy course.
Moore's crash came just over a year after one of the most high-profile deaths in the extreme sports community.
Canadian freestyle icon Sarah Burke died Jan. 19, 2012, after sustaining irreversible brain damage in a training accident in Park City, Utah. The 29-year-old was a pioneer in the sport and a driving force behind the inclusion of slopestyle and halfpipe skiing at next year's Winter Games in Sochi.

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Levi LaVallee rallies for gold

The first medal event of X Games Aspen 2013 kicked off under the lights and lightly falling snow as the Snowmobile Freestyle final produced a come-from-behind winner and brutal crashes that took out his toughest rivals.
Harnessing years of competitive snowmobiling experience, Levi LaVallee launched solid combinations, including a huge kiss-of-death flip, and raced through the turns on his final 75-second run to overtake leader Joe Parsons by three-tenths of a point to take the gold medal. Parsons finished with the silver, and Justin Hoyer won the bronze.
"I feel terrible about the accidents that happened," said LaVallee, who won the gold medal in 2008. "But I'm happy I put down a solid run and came out on top to win gold again. It's like, 'Pinch me! Is this for real?' "
The event took on a somber note from the outset. During the first run of the night, last year's bronze medalist, Caleb Moore, under-rotated an indy air backflip. The tips of his sled skis gouged the snow, pitching Moore face-first as his 450-pound snowmobile crashed down on him. The 25-year-old Texan laid motionless for several minutes before regaining consciousness.
"I feel like I just had the longest dream ever," a dazed Moore told his younger brother, 23-year-old Colten.
Colten Moore was there as the concussed Caleb got to his feet, waved to the crowd, and walked off the course to be transported for further medical evaluation.
"It's really hard to follow something like that," Parsons said before launching into his first of two runs. Nevertheless, Parsons rode fluidly from start to finish -- throwing in a cordova flip and a gator wrestler -- to post a score of 88.66 points, which held up against everybody except LaVallee.
Another favorite, Sweden's Daniel Bodin, 28, suffered mechanical difficulties throughout his first run, ending with a huge crash off the 100-foot jump. Bodin tumbled hard but jumped right to his feet and instantly started inspecting his snowmobile.
"I'm fine, but I can't believe this is happening," he said, clearly frustrated with the damage to his sled. Without a usable machine, the two-time gold medalist did not return for his final run.
The pack continued to thin as defending gold medalist Colten Moore over-rotated on the same jump, came down hard on his hip, and was taken off the course on a gurney.
The original field of eight started a man short as three-time event bronze medalist Heath Frisby had to bow out with mechanical difficulties after crashing two of his snowmobiles during practice. The 28-year-old crossover from freestyle motocross lit up last year's X Games Aspen with the first snowmobile front flip on his way to capturing gold in the best trick competition.
Back at the top after a two-year hiatus, the 30-year-old LaVallee -- the only athlete who's competed in all seven X Games snowmobile disciplines -- also will compete this weekend in GoPro Best Trick Freestyle, SnoCross, and Speed & Style.

Snowmobile Freestyle Final

1 Levi LaVallee 89.00

2 Joe Parsons 88.66

3 Justin Hoyer 84.00

4 Daniel Bodin 83.33

5 Cory Davis 82.00

6 Caleb Moore 57.66

7 Colten Moore 49.33

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Snowboard Street - Final

1 Louis-Felix Paradis 75.00

2 Dylan Alito 62.00

3 Dylan Thompson 59.00

4 Jaeger Bailey 56.00

5 Ryan Paul 54.00

6 Dan Brisse 52.00

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Maddie Bowman wins Ski SuperPipe gold

With the memory of the late and beloved Sarah Burke warming the frozen night, 19-year-old Maddie Bowman one-upped her own silver-medal performance from last year to take gold in Women's Ski SuperPipe on Friday at X Games Aspen 2013.
Bowman's winning run came early in the night, on her first of three attempts down Buttermilk Mountain's 22-foot-deep pipe. The South Lake Tahoe, Calif., native landed a pair of 900s on her way to scoring a 91.33.
"This is definitely a moment I've been waiting for for a very long time," Bowman said. "It's always been a dream to come here and do this.
"It means a lot (to honor Burke). Sarah would have wanted us to ski as hard as we did."
Burke, a four-time Winter X Games gold medalist, died just before last year's event from injuries sustained while training in Utah.
Burke's former teammate, Roz Groenewoud, who won last year's event with the highest Women's SuperPipe score in X Games history (93.66), was a favorite to win again.
Groenewoud ended up with the silver medal, while fellow Canadian, 20-year-old Megan Gunning, finished with the bronze.
"This feels so good, because it's just been so hard coming back from my knee and a lot of other things to overcome," Gunning said. "Just some mental obstacles, like a new way of looking at life. I'm more spiritual now."
Groenewoud's climb to the second tier on the podium started from way down in sixth place after her lackluster first run.
"They did the tribute (to Burke) right before my run," she said. "My eyes teared up, my goggles fogged."
Groenewoud regained her composure, however, moving up the leaderboard into second with her next run.
Heading into her third and final run of the night, she was the last skier with a chance to beat Bowman.
With a "Sarah" sticker on her helmet, Groenewoud cleaned up her run out of the gate with some of the biggest airs (over 14 feet out of the pipe) and dialed rotations of the contest, but came up just shy, washing out the landing on her last hit.
"I always like to come away from events feeling as proud as possible, so even though I got second I know I didn't quite ski as well as I could've," she said.
X Games rookie Annalisa Drew of the U.S. couldn't quite land the first 1260 in a Women's Ski SuperPipe contest at X Games. Drew placed sixth.

Women's Ski SuperPipe Final

1 Maddie Bowman 91.33

2 Roz Groenewoud 86.66

3 Megan Gunning 85.00

4 Keltie Hansen 84.33

5 Brita Sigourney 82.66

6 Annalisa Drew 81.00

7 Jen Hudak 77.66

8 Anais Caradeux 61.66

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Torstein Horgmo wins Big Air gold

The highly anticipated triple cork battle claimed the skyline above Buttermilk Mountain Friday night, capping off the second day of competition at X Games Aspen 2013 with a come-from-behind victory by one of the discipline's pioneers.
With two previous golds to his name, four-time event medalist and 2012 Big Air silver medalist Torstein Horgmo opened the America's Navy Snowboard Big Air competition with its first triple but lagged behind during much of the 18-minute final, his two-run point total consistently coming up shy against defending gold medalist Mark McMorris and a rampaging Stale Sandbech.
But in the waning minutes, the 25-year-old Norwegian turned it around. Horgmo scored a perfect 50-point run with a switch backside triple cork 1440, the first ever landed in competition, to claim the gold.
"I can't believe it," Horgmo said. "I tried it a week ago and I thought I'd give it a shot here. Any of the other podiums I've been on ever, this was the best one for sure. This was the craziest level of riding that I've ever been a part of."
McMorris also nailed a critical triple on his final hit of the night, a cab triple underflip 1440 -- a trick he had never tried before Friday night, and no one has ever landed in competition before. The judges awarded him with a score of 48, which was not enough to overtake Horgmo, but allowed him to nab the silver medal away from Sandbech, who had held the lead for most of the final jam session.
"Torstein is a boss! What can I say," McMorris said of his friend's victory. "He just absolutely changed the game of snowboarding, and I'm very, very glad I could be a part of it."
Sandbech and his consistent, near-perfect aerial awareness would finish respectably with the bronze. Until the final moments, Sandbech was the only rider to have breached the 90-point mark with his best-of-two point total.
McMorris's final triple tied his score at 94 with Horgmo, but it was the Norwegian's next-best score -- that flawless 50-pointer -- that broke the tie.
Other event highlights included Sebastien Toutant's double backside rodeo 1260s and Ulrik Badertscher going for a clean 1620.

America's Navy Snowboard Big Air Final

1 Torstein Horgmo 94.00

2 Mark McMorris 94.00

3 Ståle Sandbech 91.00

4 Seppe Smits 68.00

5 Ulrik Badertscher 52.00

6 Sebastien Toutant 48.00

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Men's Ski SuperPipe - Final

1 David Wise 95.66

2 Torin Yater-Wallace 93.00

3 Simon Dumont 85.66

4 Kevin Rolland 84.66

5 Joffrey Pollet-Villard 82.66

6 Tucker Perkins 78.66

7 Aaron Blunck 74.66

8 Benoit Valentin 63.66

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Mark McMorris repeats in Slopestyle

Mark McMorris spent months preparing to battle Shaun White in Snowboard Slopestyle at X Games Aspen, but as it turned out, not even White, a five-time gold medalist in this event, was up to challenging McMorris.
The 19-year-old Canadian defended his 2012 gold medal in superlative fashion, posting the day's top two scores and winning with his third-run 98.00, the highest score in X Games Slopestyle history. That run placed an exclamation point on a competition in which three competitors landed backside triple cork 1440s, a first for the Slopestyle discipline.
White fell on his final two runs after landing the first triple cork of the day in his opening run, and settled for fifth place.
"I'm so glad it's over," said McMorris, who showed no fatigue from his silver-medal performance in Navy Snowboard Big Air the night before. "I proved myself the way I wanted to and I'm just a happy camper. I landed a run I don't think I've ever done, really."
McMorris added of White: "He's got all the tricks, but he's just getting back into it."
Much like last year's X Games Aspen SuperPipe final, when White earned the first 100-point score in SuperPipe or Slopestyle history, McMorris raised the bar when he could have coasted down the course on a victory lap. He added a difficult cab double cork 1260 to his last run, which bumped his score from 94.66 to 98.00.
"I came here to do the cab 12 and I just felt like it needed to be done," McMorris said. "The course was too good not to do that run."
From start to finish, his winning run unfolded as follows: cab 270 to fakie on the down rail, switch lipslide on the up rail, front blunt sameway 270, boardslide gap boardslide to fakie, cab 1260 double cork, frontside 1080 double cork, double wildcat, backside triple cork 1440.
White made a point of waiting around the finish corral to congratulate McMorris before leaving the venue.
"I'm going to let this soak in and hopefully turn it into a motivator," said White, who hopes to challenge McMorris for the 2014 Olympic gold medal when Slopestyle debuts in Russia.
First, though, he'll try to win his sixth straight X Games SuperPipe gold medal on Sunday night.
Another Canadian teenager, 18-year-old X Games rookie Max Parrot, earned silver with a triple cork of his own, and Belgium's Seppe Smits claimed bronze. Parrot only learned the triple cork two weeks ago in Switzerland but landed it with perfect style to earn a 90.00.

Men's Snowboard Slopestyle Final

1 Mark McMorris 98.00

2 Maxence Parrot 90.00

3 Seppe Smits 85.00

4 Chas Guldemond 80.00

5 Shaun White 71.00

6 Peetu Piiroinen 66.00

7 Aleksander Oestreng 55.00

8 Gjermund Braaten 18.00

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Women's Snowboard Slopestyle - Final

1 Jamie Anderson 93.00

2 Sarka Pancochova 90.00

3 Spencer O'Brien 88.66

4 Enni Rukajärvi 83.33

5 Sina Candrian 70.33

6 Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas 38.00

7 Silje Norendal 30.33

8 Aimee Fuller 18.66

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Levi LaVallee wins another gold

Claiming his second gold medal in as many events during X Games Aspen 2013, Levi LaVallee outpaced and outstyled Cory Davis for all three laps Saturday in the Snowmobile Speed & Style Final.
Davis had posted the fastest qualifying time and was expected to score heavily in that respect, but LaVallee took the lead through the first corner and never looked back.
"It's great," LaVallee said. "I just tried to get on the course as fast as I could and just remember to do my tricks big, and it worked out. Cory was all over me. Hats off to Cory for just charging the whole time."
LaVallee maintained a solid spread throughout the race and landed harder tricks -- such as a kiss-of-death flip and a cordova flip -- through the jump sections. His combined score of 90.95 beat Davis' 85.66.
Davis adds a silver medal to a pair of Speed & Style bronzes (2009, '11). His shot Saturday for gold came after an upset over two-time and defending Speed & Style gold medalist Joe Parsons in the semifinals.
Coming into a turn a bit too hot, Parsons high-sided over the berm, dumping his sled and opening a door to the final for Davis.
In the race for bronze, Parsons and Willie Elam aggressively tangled up their handlebars through Turn 1, forcing both riders off course and wide around the first jump set.
Race officials flew the red flag, and the two racers lined up for a restart, which produced another tangle around Turn 1 as both riders again lost control and rode off the course.
With the second red flag, Parsons drew a penalty and was relegated to the back row for the race's third start.
To make up for the time deficit, Parsons needed quickly to unleash his highest-scoring tricks, and even with a five-second differential on the third and final lap, he edged Elam to claim his 11th X Games snowmobile medal.

Snowmobile Speed & Style Final

1 Levi LaVallee 90.96

2 Cory Davis 85.66


3 Joe Parsons 88.33

4 Willie Elam 86.72

 

[Smallville22]

Winter X Games 2013 in Aspen, Colorado

Henrik Harlaut earns 50, wins gold

Everyone expected to see history made Saturday night in the Ski Big Air final at X Games Aspen, where a handful of freeskiers promised to land the first triple corks in X Games history. But no one could have imagined the trick Henrik Harlaut would use to clinch the gold medal.
The 21-year-old master of style from Åre, Sweden, landed an unprecedented nose butter triple cork 1620 for a perfect 50-point score that left the crowd roaring in awe.
Harlaut had never tried the trick before Saturday; combined with his trademark nose butter double cork 1260s, he finished with 97 points, six higher than runner-up Kai Mahler of Switzerland.
"I had that trick in my mind for the past month but wasn't really planning on trying it unless I had to," Harlaut said. "Tanner Hall, Taylor Seaton and Vincent Gagnier were up there (at the top of the course) and they motivated me. Tanner was like, 'Yo dog, you gotta make history, let's do it.'"
Going into the competition, Harlaut was one of the few skiers who was not expected to try a triple cork, and he would have won without it based on the scores he received for his nose butter double cork 1260s and 1080s, which gave him 93 points in the best-two-runs format.
But after Gus Kenworthy landed his patented switch triple rodeo Japan to kick off the triple barrage in Heat 1 and Elias Ambühl, Bobby Brown and Mahler followed up with triple cork 1440s, Harlaut decided to throw the trick. He hadn't hit a jump since mid-December until he got to Aspen this week, but the layoff didn't matter.
"I just had time to think about it," he said.
Harlaut also bucked conventional logic by heading into the jump with no goggles to protect his eyes from the misty fog and wet snowflakes. The win gave him his first X Games medal and followed two straight seventh-place finishes in Big Air.
Mahler, meanwhile, earned his second straight Big Air silver medal despite taking only three jumps in the 18-minute jam session. He tweaked his knee and sat out until just four minutes remained, then landed his final two jumps -- a pair of switch double misty 1440s -- to bump fellow Swiss innovator Ambühl to bronze and defending champ Brown off the podium into fourth.
The night was filled with spectacular feats and gutwrenching crashes, historic firsts and wild near-misses. Kenworthy looked like he'd have a shot at gold with the switch triple rodeo Japan, but he failed to land numerous attempts in the final and ultimately reverted to a double cork 1620. Alex Schlopy also came close to making history but exploded on an attempted 1980-degree spin and lost his ski in Heat 2.

Ski Big Air Round Final

1 Henrik Harlaut 97.00

2 Kai Mahler 91.00

3 Elias Ambühl 89.00

4 Bobby Brown 86.00

5 Gus Kenworthy 81.00

6 PK Hunder 79.00