For only a moment Sunday, between the best run of Gretchen Bleiler’s snowboarding career and receiving her reward for it (the keys to a 2006 Chevy Colorado), the spotlight disappeared.
With the television cameras fixed upon Shaun White, her male counterpart as champion of the 2006 U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix series, Bleiler walked to the side of superpipe in Mountain Creek, N.J., and wrapped her arms around friend Tricia Byrnes.
It wasn’t a celebration. Rather, it was an attempt at consolation. The devastated Byrnes, 31, had just lost the fourth and final spot on the women’s 2006 Olympic halfpipe team to Kelly Clark, the 2002 gold medalist in the event and Bleiler’s teammate on the six-person snowboarding team known as “The Collection.” There was little more Bleiler could do to help a friend whose career as a competitive snowboarder seemed to be melting away like the snow beneath her boots, but the brief exchange served as a telling moment to what matters most in Bleiler’s life.
“Four years ago right now, I was really, really bummed,” Bleiler said, explaining her empathy as she recalled the role reversal between herself and Byrnes. They were in Breckenridge in 2002, and Bleiler’s own Olympic dreams were dashed when Byrnes edged her in a triple tiebreaker at the final Olympic qualifier. And although Bleiler, 24, is the hottest ticket in women’s snowboarding – making her a major attraction at the Winter X Games this weekend in her hometown of Aspen – she understands firsthand the soul-crushing sensation of shattered dreams.
“The Olympics is the biggest competition in the world,” the Aspen High School graduate said. “It’s always been a childhood dream of mine to be an Olympian. … It’s just unbelievable, to say the least, that I’ve finally made that dream come true.”
In many ways, the superpipe, where Bleiler has made her mark as a snowboarder, doubles as a metaphor for her life. Like every run through the pipe, her career has had its shares of ups and downs, occasional stumbles, flips and twists; yet, in the end, she manages to overcome the perils with brilliant mastery.
After watching Clark and fellow Americans Ross Powers, Danny Kass, JJ Thomas and Chris Klug turn snowboarding into what some consider the coolest event at the Olympics with five medals among them in 2002, Bleiler refocused her efforts in 2003. She won eight of the sport’s biggest contests in a row, including a gold medal at the Winter X Games.
She landed her first board sponsorship with K2 Snowboards that season, then promptly destroyed her right anterior cruciate ligament at the beginning of 2004. Since recovering from that injury, she has vaulted back to the top of her game, using one of the most difficult runs in women’s superpipe to reclaim her X Games gold medal a year ago, along with the U.S. Open championship last spring and four consecutive Grand Prix wins to propel her into this week’s X Games competition before taking on the world at the Olympics.
“After 2002, the next season was one of the best seasons of my career,” Bleiler said. “I won eight straight contests and really gained a ton of confidence and learned a whole lot more about myself. I feel like I’m a lot more experienced, I’m a lot more prepared and really, really pumped. I think the X Games is going to be the perfect opportunity to throw down the run you want to do in the Olympics. It’s a good chance to size up the competition, and it’s also in my hometown, so it’s going to be fun.”
Fun aside, Bleiler is also on a mission. Beyond the good looks that have attracted the attention of multiple magazines, sponsors and adoring fans lies a fierce competitor. She’s not only a favorite to win at Winter X, but at the Olympics on Feb. 13, when she drops into the superpipe with a six-trick run that includes a 900, back-to-back 540s and her signature Crippler 540 – a backflip with 1 1/2 twists.
Her toughest competition there, as well as this week in Aspen, may come from teammates Clark, 22, Hannah Teter, 18, and Elena Hight, 16. Clark and Teter have won X Games gold, and Teter was the only athlete to best Bleiler this season, at the first Grand Prix Olympic qualifier in Breckenridge.
“These women are unbelievable, and that bodes well for the Olympics,” U.S. Snowboarding superpipe coach Bud Keene said. “We are so fortunate to have so many good women pushing each other right to (Turin) and keeping each other sharp. This is world-class riding. These girls are sharpening their acts and getting ready for (the Olympics). They are riding at a higher level than almost all women in the world, and they’re stomping their runs every time.”
When she competes in the superpipe finals at Winter X on Saturday night, the spotlight will once again be focused squarely on Bleiler’s back, where it will remain all the way to Italy. But if history is any indication, snowboarding fans shouldn’t be surprised when she pops right back up. She knows how to handle the spotlight by now. And she almost always lands on her feet.
X Games X
What: The 10th Winter X Games
When: Today through Tuesday
Where: Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen
Who: 230 riders competing in Moto X, skiing, snowboard and Snocross.
TV: 15 hours of live coverage on ESPN and KMGH-7
If you go: Events are free and open to the public.
X Games schedule
TODAY
10 a.m.-noon: Snowboard slopestyle women’s qualifying; snowboarder X men’s and women’s qualifying
1-3 p.m.: Snowboard slopestyle men’s qualifying
1:30-3:30 p.m.: Skier X men’s and women’s qualifying
6-8 p.m.: Snowboard superpipe women’s qualifying
SATURDAY
11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.: Snowboard slopestyle women’s final
Noon-1:30 p.m.: Snowboarder X men’s and women’s final
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Snocross quarterfinal
2:30-4 p.m.: Snowboard slopestyle men’s final
7-8 p.m.: Moto X best trick finals part 1
7:30-9 p.m.: Snowboard superpipe women’s final
SUNDAY
10 a.m.-noon: Skiing slopestyle qualifying
Noon-1:30 p.m.: Skier X men’s and women’s final
1:30-3 p.m.: Skiing slopestyle final
1:35-2:05 p.m.: Snocross semifinal
5:45-8:15 p.m.: Snowboard superpipe men’s final part 1
8:15-9 p.m.: Moto X best trick final part 2
MONDAY
7-7:20 p.m.: Snocross last-chance qualifier
7-9 p.m.: Snowboard superpipe men’s finals, part 2
TUESDAY
10 a.m.-noon: Skiing superpipe men’s qualifying
12:15-1 p.m.: Skiing superpipe women’s final
6-8:15 p.m.: Skiing superpipe men’s final
8:15-9 p.m.: Snocross final
Staff writer Scott Willoughby can be reached at 303-820-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com.
