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Lipscomb seventh at opening snowboard World Cup

Canadians hot in Chile While most Whistler residents are wrapping up their summer seasons, snowboarder Crispin Lipscomb was back on the snow last weekend, leading team Canada in the halfpipe.

Canadians hot in Chile

While most Whistler residents are wrapping up their summer seasons, snowboarder Crispin Lipscomb was back on the snow last weekend, leading team Canada in the halfpipe.

In the opening World Cup event at Valle Nevado, Chile, Lipscomb finished seventh against the top riders in the world with a score of 35.9. His series included a 900 and a pair of 720s.

"Being the first event of the season, I am super happy with my result today," said Lipscomb.

Lipscomb, the top Canadian male in the World Cup standings at the end of the last season in seventh position, is focused on qualifying for the 2006 Olympics, and again for the 2010 Winter Games at home.

A former snowboard coach, Lipscomb only started to compete at the international level two years ago. He made a name for himself from the very beginning, and finished his first World Cup season ranked eighth in the world.

This spring he went above and beyond in the Ripzone Invitational Superpipe, finishing third in the regular competition before going on to win the rider-judged SuperHit contest with a huge frontside 1080 in the pipe.

Added to the scheduled only two years ago, the Valle Nevado World Cup has quickly become a magnet for the top talent in North America and Europe.

A pair of Finnish riders claimed the top podium spots in the halfpipe, with Antti Autti and Risto Mattila finishing first and second. Lunn Halvor was third, followed by Steven Fisher and Tommy Czeschin of the U.S. Sixth went to Magnus Sterner of Sweden.

Justin Lamoureux of Calgary and Whistler finished 12 th in the competition. Whistler’s Dan Raymond, and Dave Schettini and Drew Neilson of North Vancouver finished 14 th through 16 th competitively, giving Canada four riders in the top-20. For Neilson, a specialist in the snowboardcross, this was his first time competing in halfpipe.

"The results put up today by our entire team shows Canada’s halfpipe riders are going to challenge for the podium each time we drop into the pipe," said Lipscomb.

None of the Canadian women participated in the women’s halfpipe. That gold went to Hannah Teter of the U.S., followed by her teammate Lindsey Jacobellis. Kjersti Buass of Norway was third.

Meanwhile in the parallel giant slalom, three-time overall World Champion Jasey-Jay Anderson of Tremblant, Quebec, finished third in his first outing, edging past Eric Warren of the U.S. in the small final. The gold medal went to Gilles Jaquet of Switzerland, followed by Daniel Biveson of Sweden.

Jerome Sylvestre was 19 th for Canada, and Philippe Berube was 28 th .

In the women’s event, Calgary’s Aimee Newton continued to show improvement with a seventh place finish.

The event went to Doresia Krings of Austria, followed by Lidia Trettel of Italy and Lisa Kosglow of the U.S.

Whistler’s Alexa Loo was 19 th .

The Canadian team will return home this week to begin training for World Cup events at Solden, Austria from Oct. 17 to 19.