The men's and women's halfpipe teams delivered a one-two punch over the weekend, sweeping two of the three podium spots and confirming the United States' dominance in the sport it created and enhanced over time: snowboarding.
Stellar air and trick combos by Shaun White and Hannah Teter led the U.S. to gold medals. Right on their heels were silver medalists Danny Kass and Gretchen Bleiler in only the third go-around for Olympic snowboarding.
The halfpipe competition is judged by the boarder's aerial tricks, executed by going from wall to wall down a half-cylinder snow structure. Amplitude, execution, and degree of difficulty all go into the scoring, and the American team packed enough of each to take the top two medal finishes.
Expectations were high for the US Snowboard team this year, as the team put in remarkable finishes in Salt Lake City four years ago. The men's halfpipe team swept all the medals, with Ross Powers taking gold, Kass nabbing the silver, and JJ Thomas cleaning up with bronze. Kelly Clark seized gold for the women's team.
This year, the team returned two of the 2002 medalists in Kass and Clark, joined by younger boarders, including the 19-year-old White coming off his record-setting four-peat in the Winter X Games. The infusion of raw talent and risk-takers to the roster has bolstered an already-strong US team in Torino.
The US team set itself up as the team to beat early, coming out strong in the qualifiers. Clark, Bleiler, and Teter led in the women's qualifiers, sweeping the first three spots. The American men took spots one (Kass), three (Mason Aguirre), and four (Andy Finch) in the first round, while White, one of the top players in the snowboarding world and the clear superstar of this year's Games, took first place in the second round.
White entered the competition on a high from his performance in the X Games, in which he delivered the best qualifying run and earned two gold medals. He fulfilled the high expectations of fans and teammates, soaring 26 feet into the air on his first jump, landing two 1080s and finishing up with frontside and backside 900s.
Scoring a 46.8, White watched patiently through 11 more runs, but no one was able to top his flawless and complicated run. Once the second-to-last rider fell on his second jump, White celebrated with one last run to show off for the crowd.
Close behind White was Kass, named Snowboard Magazine's 2005 best halfpipe rider, scoring a 44.0. The 18-year-old Aguirre was just one point shy of the bronze, outscored by Finland's Marku Koski.
On the women's side, gold medalist prospect Clark fell attempting a difficult 900 and came up just .9 points behind bronze medalist Kjersti Buaas of Norway. Despite not medaling, Clark's performance is admirable as she is just returning from a year of injuries.
The women's gold came instead from the 19-year-old Teter. Boarding is a family thing for Teter, as she joins older siblings Elijah and Abram in the world of professional boarding. She performed like a natural, surprising the crowd with her frontside 540s and 900s. Just like White, Teter won the gold with her first run, scoring a 46.4.
Completing the quartet of American medals was Bleiler, the 24-year-old from Snowmass, Colo. Among the older competitors on this young snowboard team, Bleiler makes up for her age in persistence. After missing the 2002 Olympics on a three-way tie breaker in the Olympic qualifiers, she made the most of her opportunity in 2006, landing 900s, rare in the women's runs, for a score of 43.4 and a silver medal. The medal caps off a successful year for Bleiler, who won the X Games, U.S. Open and Gravity Games after tearing her ACL in 2004.
