Nathan Johnstone, of Australia, the competition favourtie,
failed to retain his world No 1 ranking at yesterday's LG
Snowboard FIS World Cup halfpipe finals, as Janne Korpi, of
Finland, scored 93 points out of 100 to take the gold.
The world's top-ranked freestyle snowboarders battled it out
under picture-perfect blue skies at Snow Park yesterday for
the second of four snowboarding events, the snowboard
slopestyle.
The Americans have reigned supreme in the Winter Games
freeski events, but yesterday it was the Australians' turn to
shine in the snowboard cross, with current world champion and
X Games competitor Alex Pullin taking the honours in the
men's competition and Belle Brockhof the surprise winner in
the women's competition.
He may be one of the
oldest competitors at the Winter Games, but age does not faze
65-year-old American snowboarder and grandfather Dick Schulze
when he lines up at the starting gates alongside athletes
more than 40 years his junior.
Adaptive snowboarder Amy Purdy (31) has been undressed by
Madonna and hung from the ceiling by Motley Crue's Nikki
Sixx, but all she really wants to do is compete at the 2014
Paralympics.
