Shaun White and Gretchen Bleiler Win Breckenridge Grand Prix Halfpipe Finals

The 2007/2008 American Halfpipe season is officially underway. On Saturday the 15th of December Breckenridge, Colorado played host to the world's halfpipe elite as the Chevrolet US Snowboarding Grand Prix held it’s first event of the year. Sunny skies greeted the competitors and as the temps started to climb the action heated up as well.

First off were the ladies. Eight females advanced out of the early morning qualifiers to face off in the finals. While all the girls rode well there were several standouts. Though they finished off the podium both Elena Hight and Ellery Hollingsworth turned some heads. Ellery was all about the combo tricks as she set down back to back fives and back to back sevens. Hight also stepped to the technical combos by attempting to link back to back nines. Though the frontside nines were solid the backside spins kept getting away from her.

Finishing in the money were three Olympic medalists. After taking a year off from competition, Hannah Teter came back in a big way. The amplitude of Teter remained intact thru her hiatus, as was shown on her staright airs which included over head methods and stalefishes. Hannah was having no trouble linking up the fs three crails with cab sevens but in the second run she traded up to a fs nine and couldn’t get it around. With the fall Teter had to settle for third but rest assured she’ll be back on the top of the podium in no time.

CLICK HERE FOR BRECK GRAND PRIX PHOTO GALLERY

Second place went to Salt Lake City Olympic Gold Medalist Kelly Clark. Clark has set herself apart from the female pack by going bigger than the other girls. This day was no different. Kelly’s top run was a double overhead frontside air to a bs five-forty followed by two more large straight airs. Kelly finished off her runs with fs seven lein grabs to cab three tail grabs, earning her a solid spot in second place.

Fending off the stiff female competition was none other than Colorado's own Gretchen Bleiler. While Bleiler set down her patented crippler on the first hit, it was her back to back five-forty’s followed by a 900 that earned her the victory.

On the men's side of the field the competition was just as heated. Canadian Brad Martin threw down his fabled off-axis twelve-sixty cork earning accolades from everyone in attendance. Colorado loc JJ Thomas was a crowd favorite with his twelve sixties. Keir Dillon and Elijah Teter traded tricks in a showdown for the third place on the podium but it was Teter's switch trickery that bested Dillon's back to back nine barrage. Keir also had the highest frontside air of the day on the first hit of his second run.

Continuing a rivalry started a year earlier in Aspen, Steven Fisher and Shaun White fought over the top two spots to the last run. In the end Fisher's nine to seven to back-to-back ten combo couldn’t best the Shaun White juggernaut. Having spent only a handful of days on snow so far this year hasn’t slowed Shaun down one bit. Shaun's run consisted of a fs melon on the first hit followed by a bs nine, fs ten, cab 10 and finally finishing up with his standby alley oop bs rodeo.

Despite such a strong start to the halfpipe season the rider's have a month long wait until the next showdown, which is to be at the X-Games in Aspen. That leaves plenty of time for the riders to practice because Shaun White is a force to be reckoned with and is looking strong to regain his Winter X halfpipe title.

Women's Halfpipe Final Standings:
1. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 45.3
2. Kelly Clark, Mount Snow, VT, 42.6
3. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 41.9
4. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 39.4
5. Soko Yamaoka, Japan, 32.5
6. Kait Farrington, Bellevue, ID, 29.7
7. Anne Pellissier, France, 27.6
8. Elena Hight, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 26.1

Men's Halfpipe Final Standings:
1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, CA, 48.4
2. Steven Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 47.8
3. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 44.5
4. Keir Dillon, Carlsbad, CA, 44.3
5. Kevin Pearce, Norwich, VT, 44.2
6. Brad Martin, Canada, 43.4
7. Luke Mitrani, Scottsdale, AZ, 40.9
8. Ryoh Aono, Japan, 40.1
9. Gary Zebrowski, France, 39.7
10. J.J. Thomas, Golden, CO, 39
11. Dol Wal Van Der, Netherlands, 36.6
12. Tore-V. Holvik, Norway, 36.6
13. Justin Lamoureux, Canada, 34.7
14. Crispi Lipscomb, Canada, 33.5
15. Kohdai Watanabe, Japan, 20.8
16. Jack Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 17.2

Breck Grand Prix Day 1
CLICK HERE FOR BRECK GRAND PRIX PHOTO GALLERY