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Canadian women rule superpipe

Zurek, Burke post wins for Team Canada at X Games Global Championship The pressure was on for the handful of athletes selected to represent their countries and regions at the X Games Global Championships last weekend, and a pair of Canadian women, sn

Zurek, Burke post wins for Team Canada at X Games Global Championship

The pressure was on for the handful of athletes selected to represent their countries and regions at the X Games Global Championships last weekend, and a pair of Canadian women, snowboarder Natasza Zurek and skier Sarah Burke, rose to the challenge. Maelle Ricker of Whistler also did well, placing fifth.

The Canadian men also did pretty well, with Justin Lamoureux placing fifth among the snowboarders and Philippe Belanger taking second among skiers.

While Team Canada may have finished fourth among the six regions represented at the X Games, the Canadians proved we could still dominate on snow.

Japan also sent a message of its own with snowboarder Junko Asazuma of Team Asia finishing second in the women’s superpipe and skier Shoya Okazaki taking the men’s superpipe.

Team USA was also impressive, and was a contender in every event. Without a few missed landings, they could easily have been on top.

For complete results in all the X Games events, including the summer events held in San Antonio, Texas, visit www.expn.com.

Women’s Snowboard Superpipe

In her practice runs prior to the women’s superpipe event on Friday, May 16, Vancouver’s Natasza Zurek kept it low-key, giving up the limelight to Kelly Clark and Gretchen Bleiler of Team USA, and Torah Bright and Holly Crawford of Australia.

Once the competition started, with hundreds of fans lining the course, television cameras following their every move, and plenty of time up in the gates to get butterflies, the pressure was on.

Although ESPN called it a shocker, nobody who has been following Zurek’s career was surprised when the 25-year-old, riding first, immediately set the bar high for the other competitors in the steep pipe.

She landed a couple of huge straight airs with solid grabs, a 540, and finished off with an inverted 540 crippler to end up with a score of 93.0. None of the other 12 competitors would come close to this score over their two runs, except for Zurek, who scored a 95.3 on her next attempt to take the win. Her second run was similar to the first with a little more height on her jumps and a 720 crippler in the bottom of the pipe that was easily the trick of the day.

"It was a pretty fun pipe," said Zurek. "The crowd was helping, they were really doing it for me."

Zurek also commented that it was hard to see, with flat light conditions and fog rolling in during the competition.

In second place was Junko Asazuma of Japan, who posted a score of 91.33 with the help of an off-balance 540 and grab that was unique to the contest. Third place went to Anne Molin Kongsgaard of Norway, who easily launched the biggest straight airs of the day to post a score of 89.67.

Kelly Clark, the Olympic champion from Vermont, just missed the top three with a score of 89.0 for her huge jumps, and backside method grabs and a 720. Whistler’s Maelle Ricker finished fifth overall with a score of 81.0, missing her combinations, but landing a solid 540 and a reverted 720. She went for it on her second run, but it wasn’t enough to advance in the standings.

With a first and a fifth in the women’s superpipe, Zurek earned 12 points and Ricker earned eight to boost Team Canada in the standings by 20 points, and put Canada within sight of Team Australia.

Men’s Snowboard Superpipe

Although he’s only 16-years-old, Shaun White of California has been competing at the pro level for the past five years. He regularly finished in the top ranks, but rarely walked away with wins. The consensus among judges was that White was great, but he wasn’t quite there yet. His efforts earned him the nickname Future Boy.

All that changed this February at the Winter X Games with White taking the top spot over the top names in the sport. The future was here.

At the X Games Global Championships, White made his presence felt in the practice round, launching almost 20 feet out of the pipe, and working the icy walls without any speed checks. In his first run, he posted a score of 97.0 out of a possible 100, and left the rest of the field playing catch-up.

Gian Simmen of Switzerland came the closest, earning a score of 95.67 for a run that included a backside 540 to a frontside 720, and a smooth frontside 900.

Ross Powers of Vermont, the Olympic champion, posted a solid 93.00 for his run, which was smooth and technical, but lacked the air time of his practice runs.

The only person to beat White was White, who landed a near-perfect 98.0 on his second run.

Justin Lamoureux of Whistler was the top Canadian, finishing in fifth place with a run that included a frontside 720, a backside 720, a frontside 900 combo, and a McTwist. His score of 89.0 was a third of a point shy of fourth place.

Guillaume Morisset of Stoneham, Quebec, was seventh for Canada, starting his run with a huge frontside 900 to earn a score of 88.0.

Together, Morisset and Lamoureux earned 14 points for Canada.

Women’s Ski Superpipe

Only five women would compete in the superpipe on Sunday, with Team South America unable to field a competitor in this category.

Sarah Burke of Midland, Ontario was the favourite coming into the competition, with more wins in pro events than all of the other competitors combined.

However, she missed the Winter X Games gold back in February to Marie Martinod of France.

History looked to repeat itself in the X Games Global Championships, with Martinod again leading after the first run with a score of 89.3. Her best run featured a couple of straight airs over 10 feet out of the pipe and a solid 540.

Still, Burke wasn’t about to give up. On her second run, the last run of the day, she emptied the full bag of tricks with a solid 540, huge airs, and the first 720 ever landed by a woman in a professional event. The last jump clinched her the win and 12 more points for Canada as the judges awarded her a score of 95.0.

"To actually be in the X Games here and win for Canada was really big for me," said Burke.

When asked about the pressure of going last with Martinod ahead of her, Burke said it was exactly what she needed.

"For me, I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself. I put in a really solid run at first, and it wasn’t enough, and that put a lot of pressure on me to step it up another level," she said.

Although you can’t train for that kind of pressure, Burke makes a point of entering every contest she can, competing against the guys if there aren’t enough girls around.

"I try to put a little stress on myself, competing against the boys, and I’m getting used to it a little bit. The more competition experience I get, the better."

The superpipe itself was fast, steep, and it was easy to get too much air and crash.

"Getting used to it is the trick," said Burke, who crashed hard on an earlier 720 attempt in practice.

Martinod finished second with her 89.3, and Kim Stacey of Mammoth Lakes, California, finished third with an 83.67.

Men’s Ski Superpipe

With the top freeskiers in the world in Whistler for the Global Championships, it was really anyone’s contest. With only two runs, and a level of competitiveness that was through the roof, skiers had to be flawless.

The only athlete to fit that bill on Sunday was Shoya Okazaki of Japan, who put in two solid runs that were good enough to win the contest.

Okazaki’s run began with a huge straight air, then evolved as he mixed in a 540 tailgrab, an alley-oop flatspin, and a 720 tailgrab that was considerably higher than any the judges saw that day.

"Yesterday, I would not have said that Shoya would win, but today he was going bigger than anyone in practice, and was landing tricks, so after practice I knew Shoya would be the winner," said Motoki Shimomura, Okazaki’s teammate.

Although he doesn’t speak much English, Okazaki’s smile spoke volumes.

In second place was Canada’s Philippe Belanger, who might have taken the win with a smooth 900. He finished with an 89.33.

"The funny thing is I really held back on the first run to try and land everything, then I crashed on the second run trying to hang it out, and I ended up (in second) with the conservative run," said Belanger, who was happy to earn 11 points for Team Canada.

Third place went to C.R. Johnson of Team USA, with huge airs and a solid 900. He also had problems with a few of his landings, which proved costly.

Shimomura of Japan took fourth place and nine points, while Philippe Larose, the other Canadian, settled for fifth place with a score of 86.0.

Tanner Hall of Montana, who was the top skier in practice, hit the deck a couple of times in the final to finish sixth.

Together the Canadians contributed another 20 points to Team Canada, but it was not enough to jump ahead of Australia into third place.

Team USA took the first X Games Global Championship with 196 points, followed by Europe with 167. Australia had 142 points, and Canada 132.

Asia finished fifth with 122 and South America was sixth with 70.