Source | December 12, 2009 | Permalink

Copper Mountain, CO—It was a perfect riding day at Copper Mountain’s 22-foot Superpipe, as the home American riders put five riders on the podium, including an all-American Men’s podium. Canadian riders Dustin Craven and Charles Reid competed Saturday in the Finals of the 2009 US snowboard Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colorado, but failed to crack the top ten due to each of them crashing in their respective runs. Shaun White of the USA, the 2006 Olympic Gold medallist, won the event by scoring an astonishing 47.00 points as hundreds of spectators gathered around the pipe to see the world’s best halfpipe riders in action. The snowboard phenomenon, who won the 10 000 USD purse for the event, wowed the crowd by perfectly landing a back to back double cork, the latest trendy trick in the halfpipe world. American teammate Louie Vito finished second with 45.6 points, followed by Zachary Black with 44.1 points for the third spot. Charles Reid (Mont-Tremblant, QC), who mostly rides on the Ticket-To-Ride pro tour, scored 18.8 today to finish in 12th place. Reid qualified in 13th place Friday to enter the Finals. Reid, also a well know figure in the world of pro snowboarding, shares Craven’s dream of making the Olympics. “It went really well in the practices today. In my first run, I did some really nice frontside 1080’s to start, but fell on the basic trick of straight air. It is quite disappointing to fall on that trick, but it happens. In the second run, I landed flat on my cab 1080 in the middle of the pipe and crashed again,” said Reid. “My day was done. I was definitely nervous. I don’t think the fact I was nervous was a factor in the crashes. I am always nervous before dropping in any runs,” added Reid. Dustin Craven (Banff, Alta.), a freeride snowboarding figure who specialized in filmmaking, joined the Canada~Snowboard team this season with the hopes to pursue Olympic qualification. Craven, who would have qualified for the Canadian Olympic Team today with a Top 5, scored 9 points for the 15th position as he crashed early in both runs. Craven sacrificed many endeavours to pursue the Olympic dreams, temporarily dropping his filmmaking duties in order to ride more contests and train to qualify for the 2010 Canadian Olympic Snowboard team. “In the first run, I had technical difficulty as my binding broke. In the second run I just popped a little too hard and landed flat and fell. The pipes are not going anywhere, so I’ll still snowboard tomorrow. I’ll just keep working at it and try to get a Top 5 in Mammoth at the Grand Prix,” said Craven.“There’s tons of halfpipe around the world, so I’ll keep practicing. At least I know that my riding level is on point so I can still make Finals at the next Grand Prix,” said Craven, who qualified fifth in Friday’s qualifiers, after the contest. In women’s action, the Americans were also largely present in the finals with five riders in the Top 8. Kelly Clark won the contest, grabbing the 10 000 USD purse, with a score of 44.5 points. The 2002 Olympic Gold medallist was followed on the podium by teammate and 2006 Olympic Silver medallist Gretchen Bleiler (42.6) and Japanese rider Soko Yamaoka (40.2), silver medallist at the 2007 World Championships.Despite the absence of Chinese rider Jiayu Liu, the defending World Champion and World Cup Champion and current World Cup leader, the contest was loaded with talent with four Olympic and World Championships medallists. No Canadians women qualified for the finals. Ontario’s Palmer Taylor was the Top Canadian, just missing the finals by finishing 9th of the Thursday qualifiers.