Kelly Clark Takes Top Spot in Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Qualifier
The Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships at Breckenridge, Colorado is officially underway as Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Qualifier kicked off a week of action-packed competition.
Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Qualifier Action Shots
The qualifier consisted of 25 riders each taking two runs down the pipe, with the highest score counting, in order to advance the top eight athletes to the final.
Word on the hill was that the pipe was a little sticky during the morning practice, but it warmed up just in time to let the ladies fly.
“It was super sticky earlier in the morning,” laughed Australia’s Torah Bright following her first run. “But it’s good now that it’s warming up and riding nicely, it’s a great pipe!”
Look for the 2010 gold medal Olympian to be mixing it up in the pipe all week.
Following the end of the first runs for all of the women, it was the 13-year-old Chloe Kim topping the scoreboard. Then, on her second run she upped the ante and bettered her score.
“I just took it easy on my first run, well, not really easy, but i just wanted to land it,” said the semi-modest Kim. “Then, on my second run I just went for it.”
Kim’s best scoring run included a big backside method, frontside 540 McTwist, a crippler 720, a cab 720 that was ultimately capped with a frontside 720.
Clark takes top spot at qualifiers
Following the second run from each of the 25 riders, it was Kelly Clark who landed in the top spot earning that first place qualifying position for the final on Saturday — be sure to tune in for the live stream at 2:15pm ET at DewTour.com/LIVE.
Clark’s final and best run included a frontside air, backside 540, frontside 720, cab 720, frontside 540, backside air and an inverted 720 to wrap up her run. Clark was clearly the most dominant rider in the qualifier today, but we know she has more to throw, including a cab 1080 she has been working on and hinting that we may see.
“I’m always trying to raise my own bar,” said the two-time Olympian owning both a gold and bronze medal. “I’ve been working on cab 10’s, I’m hoping to have that together. I’m really trying to raise my own standards.”
Results
1st Place – Kelly Clark
2nd Place – Chloe Kim
3rd Place – Arielle Gold
4th Place – Kaitlyn Farrington
5th Place – Elena Hight
6th Place – Torah Bright
7th Place – Gretchen Bleiler
8th Place – Xuetong Cai
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