Iouri Podladtchikov, of Switzerland, on his way to winning
the New Zealand Burton Open half-pipe title at Cardrona
Alpine Resort on Saturday. Photo by Matthew Haggart.
United States snowboarder Kelly Clark oozed class and
experience when she cruised to her fourth New Zealand Burton
Open half-pipe title at Cardrona Alpine Resort on Saturday.
She was joined on the winner's podium by Swiss snowboarder
Iouri Podladtchikov, who claimed his first New Zealand Burton
Open half-pipe title in his fifth appearance at the event.
Wanaka siblings Mitchell and Kendall Brown both secured
top-10 placings in their respective men's and women's fields.
Kendall finished the half-pipe as the best-placed New
Zealander, when she came eighth in the women's competition,
while brother Mitchell came ninth.
Podladtchikov and Clark held off strong challenges from an
expanded field of competitors, after organisers were once
again forced to re-jig the format of the finals schedule
because of weather conditions.
Overnight rain and warm temperatures necessitated the change
in format on Saturday as event directors tried to preserve
Cardrona's Olympic-standard half-pipe, after low cloud,
swirling mist, and near-zero visibility levels had disrupted
Friday's slopestyle finals.
All 38 men and 19 women semifinalists went straight into a
single final round, with the best of two runs counting for
their final half-pipe ranking.
Podladtchikov (21), nicknamed I-Pod by his snowboarding
peers, showed good early-season form at Cardrona and his
first NZ Open title win backs up a maiden Burton Open
half-pipe title in Canada in February.
He was pushed hard by 14-year-old Burton Open debutante Taku
Hiraoka, of Japan, who amazed spectators with the height and
audacity of his aerial tricks.
Hiraoka, who proceeded to the half-pipe finals as the top
qualifier, completed a run which belied his age and left
other more experienced competitors, such as third-placed
Louie Vito (US) in his wake.
Podladtchikov was "stoked" to have landed some difficult
tricks to boost his finals score.
"It feels great to win here. I landed a 'double McTwist' and
I haven't done that trick in competition since the US Open
[in March]. It made my day," he said.
Clark's fourth NZ Open win in the half-pipe - she also won in
2006, 2007, and 2009 - came courtesy of a first run which
earned her an 88.70 point score from the judges.
The effort saw her coast to victory over second-placed
Spanish snowboarder Queralt Castellat, whose best run left
her more than six points behind Clark's winning score.
The re-jigged finals did not disrupt the 2002 Winter Olympic
half-pipe gold medallist.
"Any time the format changes its kind of a disadvantage.
"You strategise and ... when you go from three runs down to
two [in the finals] you have to re-evaluate,"I ended up
walking away with the run I wanted to do," she said.
New Zealand snowboarders did not leave the Burton Open
competition empty-handed, with Whangamata rider Ben Stewart
claiming the men's best half-pipe trick in a rejuvenated
competition brought back for this year's event.
Stewart (18) is among New Zealand's best up-and-coming riders
and will lead a young Kiwi team at the FIS Junior Ski and
Snowboard World Championships next week.
He finished 34th in the half-pipe, after initially missing
out on the finals by two places during Thursday's
qualifications, but was called up on Saturday to replace
other competitors.
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