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The Winter Dew Tour Nike Open hosted anaction-packed day of finals on their record-breaking superpipe under bluebird skies at Breckenridge today.  Men’s snowboard finals capped off a day of sun, snow and high-energy crowds as the riders brought their best runs to the 602-foot long behemoth of a superpipe.  Shaun White set the tone early on with a run that proved unbeatable through the second heat.  He boosted out of the pipe with a 27 foot backside air, followed by a frontside double cork 900, backside 540, frontside stalefish 540, and a double McTwist 1260.  His technical and stylish run ended with an alley-oop backside rodeo.  “I’m so happy to put that run down and make it count, get the win and start the season off right,” said White following the contest.  White had nothing but good things to say about the superpipe, noting that it helped to ramp up the level of riding.  “You can go a lot bigger and carry down the line,” he said.  “I’m blown away by Breckenridge delivering such an amazing pipe.  It’s one of the best I’ve ever ridden.”

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Preceding the men’s contest, women’s snowboard superpipe finals featured tight competition that came down to Kelly Clark’s final run.  After Clark tapped the deck on her first run, Gretchen Bleiler took a solid hold of the lead with a run that included hersignature crippler.  As the last rider to drop, Clark focused in and landed a run that included a frontside inverted 720, a cab 720, frontside 540, backside 540, and frontside 900, ending with a huge backside air that drew loud cheers from the crowd.  Clark credited the Nike Open’s record-breaking superpipe as a contributing factor to the contest’s excitement.  “This is the longest pipe we’ve ever ridden and it makes for a progressive contest because no one’s trying to squeak all of their tricks in,” she said.  “There’s plenty of room to do every combination that you want to do.”  The win puts Clark in the lead to defend her reign as the Dew Cup champion.  “I couldn’t have had a better start to my season,” she said.  “But I think more importantly than doing well, I’m happy with the way I’m riding.”

Men's Halfpipe Final Resuts
Rank Name Score
1. Shaun White 95.00
2. Louie Vito 92.75
3. Iouri Podlachikov 90.00
4. Christian Haller 88.00
5. Kohei Kudo 86.00
6. Matt Ladley 84.00
7. Steve Fisher 79.75
8. Keito Kumazaki 55.75
9. Kazuhiro Kokubo 47.75
10. Scott Lago 40.00
11. Luke Mitrani 24.25
12. Danny Davis 18.25

 

Women's Halfpipe Final Results
Rank Name Score
1. Kelly Clark 91.25
2. Gretchen Bleiler 90.25
3. Xuetong Cai 85.00
4. Maddy Schaffrick 80.00
5. Kaitlyn Farrington 70.00
6. Queralt Castellet 54.50