Iouri Podladtchikov and Kelly Clark dominate SuperPipe Finals at World Snowboarding Championships
Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov and America’s Kelly Clark took top honours in their respective SuperPipe finals at World Snowboarding Championships that went down in Oslo, Norway, on Saturday, February 18.
While Podladtchikov walked away with top honours from the men’s SuperPipe Final, America’s Matt Ladley and Louie Vito rounded out the second and third positions respectively to complete the podium.
Clark’s dominating of the women’s SuperPipe Final left Spain’s Queralt Castellet to settle for runner-up place while America’s Gretchen Bleiler rounded out the top-three.
The best riders from around the globe had converged to Oslo Winter Park to compete for the coveted honours on offer. Podladtchikov and Clark showed superb and consistent form to dominate their respective fields during the qualifiers and continued the momentum
on Saturday to eventually emerge as the 2012 Halfpipe World Champions, taking home the coveted trophy and USD $40,000 for putting on unbeatable performances.
In the women’s final, Clark wasted no time in asserting her dominance in the field and landed an exquisite run that comprised of a front-side air, back-side 540 mute, front-site 1080 mute, Cab 720 mute and a front-side inverted 720 in the end. The run earned
her an 86.6, allowing her to secure her 15th consecutive halfpipe victory.
Jubilant over her latest success, Clark said, “It's an honour to win the first TTR Halfpipe World Snowboarding Championships, I'm coming off a pretty incredible winning streak right now and winning this event is really just the icing on the cake.”
In the men’s Final, an intense battle for top honours was expected to take place between Podladtchikov and Vito. The latter had already gotten the better of his Swiss rival at Winter Dew Tour a couple of weeks back and thus enjoyed a psychological advantage.
However, Podladtchikov successfully redeemed himself on Saturday after stealing the show with his superb 90.8-point run, which featured a double McTwist 1260 to front-side double cork 1080 to double cork Cab 1080 to front-side 1080.
“I'm super happy that this was such an amazing event. It was so cool to ride. I gave it my best and it worked out. This being the World Championships, it’s a sweet, sweet victory,” said Podladtchikov after the Final.
The snowboarding fans definitely got their money’s worth as the world’s greatest riders treated them to a series of phenomenal performances. The level of riding once again served to justify the inclusion of snowboard halfpipe to Winter Olympics.
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