Snowboarding: U.S. Women shine in the Italy pipe

American women swept the podium of a World Cup snowboard halfpipe competition in Bardonecchia, Italy today. Kelly Clark topped the podium followed by teammates Hannah Teter and Gretchen Blieler in second and third, respectively.  

American women swept the podium of a World Cup snowboard halfpipe competition in Bardonecchia, Italy today. Kelly Clark topped the podium followed by teammates Hannah Teter and Gretchen Blieler in second and third, respectively.  

“For me personally it’s a good feeling to win where I was defeated three years ago,” Clark said. “Hannah was riding very strong but I just did my run as I wanted it. I’m glad that I won this great event and that the U.S. took one, two and three.”

And the American domination didn’t stop there. American women took five of the top 15 spots with Elena Hight in eighth and Ellery Hollingsworth in 12th.

The win was Clark’s third career World Cup victory and second in Bardonecchia, the first came in 2005. Teter notched her seventh career World Cup podium, while Blieler grabbed her tenth.

“Bardonecchia has the most snow they’ve had in about 50 years and we got here and the pipe was challenging. We had just come from some great competitions and we showed up to a smaller pipe and challenging conditions,” U.S. snowboarding halfpipe head coach, Mike JankowskiJankowski said. “We knew there was only one way to go and that was up. So, we said every day it’s going to get better. We pushed our way through semi finals and got our way through to finals.”

The men’s competition was taken by France’s Mathieu Crepel, followed by Australian Nathan Johnstone and Switzerland’s Louri Podladtchikov.

American Steven Fisher led the American men in seventh place.

The pipers now head to the 2010 Olympic venue at Cypress Mountain, B.C. for a World Cup competition and some valuable experience. “We just take it one pipe at a time and we’re definitely not getting ahead of ourselves,” Jankowski said. “As long as the pipe is in good shape, whether it’s a Revolution Tour, a Grand Prix or the Olympics, we go there to win and I expect our athletes to push hard for the win.”

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