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Lamoureux, Nicoll hold their own against top halfpipe riders

Shaun White steals the show at Cypress
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While anyone who follows snowboarding on a regular basis might have seen it coming, spectators who haven't tuned into the sport of halfpipe since the 2006 Games might have noticed a few changes.

For one thing, the athletes are going bigger - much bigger. While a rider launching 10 or 15 feet out of the pipe may have seemed huge a few years ago, some of the top male riders were airing out 20 feet or more. With the 22-foot walls of the pipe, riders were flying four storeys into the air.

Athletes are also spinning more, with athletes working extra rotations and half rotations into their routines this time around. With all the extra air they have lots of extra time.

Spectators will also have noticed that going inverted once is old hat. Especially when American star Shaun White busted out the first ever 1260 double McTwist in a pro contest - two complete flips with three-and-a-half twists, grabbing his board at the same time. White has named the trick "The Tomahawk" after a 30-ounce steak he tackled in Aspen.

The men's halfpipe at Cypress was great show Wednesday, from the qualifiers to the finals. And fans were well-rewarded for hanging in there.

White's final run alone was worth the price of admission, especially since he didn't need to do it to win - he already accomplished that in his previous run and there was nobody left to beat him. He did it purely to put on a show, because that's what White has grown up doing. His no-pressure victory lap was scored as a 48.4 out of a possible 50.

Asked whether snowboarding had hit a limit in terms of air and tricks, White said it was possible.

"I'm sure that we've hit the spike and I'm hoping it will now mellow out," he said. "I've pushed myself to the fullest and now I deserve a break, I think."

White ought to know. In order to perform at his best this season he built his own halfpipe in the backcountry to train. He has entered every contest this season as the favourite. But the sport is not easy, despite all the training; injuries are common.

"I felt a lot of pressure," he said. "Last time (2006) I had an undefeated season. I put it down completely. This was in no way like the last time. I've crashed, I've taken the lumps as they come, I've almost lost my head at the X Games, which was fun. It wasn't easy, I did all the work to make it look easy."

White says he plans to be back for 2014, as well as to devote some more time to skateboarding, where he is also a past champion in halfpipe.

It feels like White has been the nexus of the snowboarding scene forever, even before he won gold in the 2006 Olympic Games, but he's still only 23 years old.

The silver medal at Cypress went to Peetu Piirionen of Finland with a 45.0. U.S. rider Scott Lago, shaking off a bad run in the qualification rounds, took the bronze with a 42.8.

The only Canadian to make it through the qualifier was Squamish's Justin Lamoureux, who finished his day in a very respectable seventh place.

"It was awesome," he said. "The crowd was super good. It's a dream come true. "

When he was asked why White was so dominant, he shrugged and said that having your own half-million dollar backcountry pipe to train in probably helps.

As for his age - Lamoureux is 10 years older than White - he shrugged again.

"I'm just trying the age limit and the sport. I still feel young, I still feel good."

Lamoureux's seventh place is Canada best result in the four Olympic Games where the sport of halfpipe has been featured.

Meanwhile the U.S. team can now claim eight out of 12 Olympic medals in men's halfpipe - bronze in 1998; gold, silver and bronze in 2002; gold and silver in 2006 and now gold and bronze in 2010.

Nicoll solid in women's halfpipe

Depending on who you talked to, Torah Bright was either the favourite or an underdog heading into the 2010 Games. Over the course of the day on Feb. 18 she was both. She posted the top scores in the qualifier to get a bye into the finals. Then she fell on her first run, putting her chances of a medal in jeopardy. She came back in the second run to score an incredible 45.0 to win the gold medal.

The big trick of the day was a switch backside 720, which is one of the top tricks on the women's circuit these days because it involves taking off and spinning on your weaker side. She threw in an inverted trick and kept her run clean from top to bottom.

While most competitors liked the pipe at Cypress, it wasn't perfect. The softer walls allowed riders to push their takeoffs and landings, but the soft snow in the bottom of the pipe made it harder to keep momentum.

"Today, all day, I was having a little bit of trouble," Bright said. "There was a little bit more snow than what we'd had on our only good training day. That kind of threw me off.

"But the conditions and how the pipe was and what was being predicted for this event - this was perfect. The weather was perfect. We got cold temperatures at night and that rain actually helped harden up the flat bottom, which was pretty soft."

Bright also had to overcome some soreness after crashing twice in her first run - once while attempting her switch backside 720 and a second fall while she was riding out that looked worst than the first crash.

"I knew that if I landed that run it could be enough (to win)," she said. "At that point I was just relieved that I landed my run. I was a bit sore from my first run where I fell."

American Hannah Teter, the reigning champion, was probably the smoothest rider of the day but she didn't have a technical trick to put her over the top. Still, she finished a solid second with a score of 42.4.

Teammate Kelly Clark was also a contender but fell after landing her 720 crippler and had to settle for third with a 42.2.

Whistler's Mercedes Nicoll was unable to match her run from the semi-final, falling on both runs. Since falls were common, however, it was still good enough for sixth place.

"I don't know, I fell," she said. "I was going really fast and I was out of control. To get sixth is amazing. I'm so happy."

She said the judges were looking for air time so she tried to push that as much as she could.

"And then I popped up too much and fell in the flat bottom."

Two medals for the women's team brings the U.S. record in the Olympics to six out of a possible 12.