It had been nine years since snowboardcross pioneer Shaun Palmer was on the receiving end of a champagne shower. So when the 39-year-old racer ended the victory drought with a win at the first stop on the 2007-08 Jeep King of the Mountain Tour in Telluride on Sunday, he made sure that bubble bath was a doozy.
“It’s been a long time coming, man,” the South Lake Tahoe, Calif., native said as he wiped the champagne from his eyes. “But I’m going to keep rolling with this feeling. I’m going to do this every stop. It’s going to be hard, but I’m going to do it.”
Winning the first of three stops on the recently revamped JKOM tour was undeniably huge for Palmer, who picked up a $15,000 winner’s check and a spot on the U.S. Snowboarding’s “A” team by crossing the finish line just ahead of 2006 Olympic gold medalist Seth Wescott of Carrabassett Valley, Maine, and fellow Olympian Graham Watanabe of Sun Valley, Idaho. Palmer, the so-called “Miserable Champion,” had come out of a coma to qualify for the 2006 Olympic SBX team before rupturing his Achilles tendon just weeks before the Games.
“It feels really good,” he said of overcoming the injury and upsetting the Olympic champion. “It’s going to feel even better when I win the Olympics.”
A day before, Palmer also qualified in the JKOM skiercross competition eventually won by Sweden’s Lars Lewen, a two- time X Games gold medalist. Seeded in a bracket alongside Casey Puckett of Aspen and Austrian Klaus Waldner, the only man to win the Winter X Games in both skiercross and snowboardcross failed to reach the quarterfinals in an otherwise impressive showing.
Even reigning X Games champion Puckett wasn’t up for the challenge of the stout international field representing 11 nations, however, dropping out of the medal chase in the semifinals with a loss to eventual second-place finisher and former U.S. Ski Team downhill superstar Daron Rahlves of Lake Tahoe. Tomas Krause of the Czech Republic finished third in the men’s race.
Puckett rebounded to finish fifth overall as Vail’s Chris Del Bosco was the only other Colorado skier to finish in the money, placing seventh.
Joining Lewen as the event’s inaugural title winner on the women’s side was Ophelie David of France, the world’s No. 1-ranked skiercross racer and 2007 X Games gold medalist. Second place went to Karin Huttary of Austria, followed by Magdalena Jonsson of Sweden and American Anik Wemers-Wild. Steamboat’s Brett Buckles finished sixth.
In women’s snowboardcross, Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis returned to business as usual with her fourth consecutive JKOM victory, beating Canadians Maelle Ricker and Dominique Maltais along with the rest of the field for her $15,000 share of the spoils.
