USA's Kelly Clark continues her pipe domination at 2011 Winter X Games Europe
American Kelly Clark dominated the 2011 Winter X Games Europe, Women's Snowboarding SuperPipe final in Tignes, France on Thursday. She asserted her dominance in the pipe event by adding yet another victory to her name.
Clark’s compatriot, Hannah Teter, finished in second place to take home the silver. Spain’s Queralt Castellet was able to secure the last spot on the podium after finishing third.
The weather conditions during the finals were anything but easy, as the menacing storm was yet to subside, with the warm sticky snow making the riding conditions extremely tough. However, the riders refused to bow down in front of the intimidating conditions,
and rather than getting the contest delayed through a unanimous decision, they decided to continue with the show.
The 27-year-old Clark is regarded as the queen of the pipe and she never wastes an opportunity to affirm this status. The nine-time WX SuperPipe medallist has conquered 10 out of the 12 pipe contests that she has entered this year.
WXE’s SuperPipe has participants from among the best riders from all around the world, but none of them managed to match Clark’s exquisite riding. To further make her competitors sweat, she had mentioned adding a new trick into her arsenal, though it is
yet to be seen.
“It's a frontside inverted seven," said Clark. "I wanted to link it up with the 900 and the 1080. I couldn't quite pull it tonight, but you know if you don't try then you never land it.”
Clark took the lead in the final with her very first run. The run consisted of a frontside 720, Cab 720, frontside 900, backside 540, and frontside 540. This earned her an unbeatable score of 92.66, and the highest spot on the podium. Talking about her win,
she said, “I'm so happy with this win. To come out and put down a run like that first run, it puts me in a place where I can progress my riding as the night goes on, and that's what I came here to do.”
The 24-year-old four-time WX medallist from America, Teter, earned her best score of 91.00 after an extremely impressive second run. Still short of Clark’s score, she ended up with a silver medal.
Spain’s 21-year-old Castellet was making her second appearance in WX. Finishing in fifth place earlier in the year at the WX 15 SuperPipe, she had looked very promising. In the finals on Thursday, she threw down an amazing first run that earned her 89.33,
a score that placed her on her first ever WX podium ahead of riders such as Kaitlyn Farrington and Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas.
America’s Gretchen Bleiler had a really bad fall while attempting a 900 during practice earlier. Even though she still competed in the finals, she failed to complete a single run.
Although the weather was horrible, the fans of winter sports got to see some of the world’s most exciting athletes in action during the finals. WXE now moves to its final day, and only the highest level of snowboarding and skiing action is expected.
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