STRATTON, Vt.—Executing a series of near-flawless tricks, Shaun White captured his third consecutive halfpipe title Saturday at the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships.
A day after winning the slopestyle event, White, of Carlsbad, Calif., scored a 91 on his first run to edge up-and-comer Kevin Pearce, of Norwich, and Mason Aguirre, of Bishop, Minn.
Australian Torah Bright took top honors in the women’s division with an 84.17, besting 2002 Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark, of West Dover, who had a fall on one run and finished with a 79.33. Gretchen Bleiler, of Aspen, Colo., took third.
Bright also won the six-event Global Open Series, which culminated with the U.S. Open, and Peetu Piiroinen of Finland took the honor for the men by racking up the most points.
Hundreds of spectators turned out under bright blue skies, lining the course for the 26th annual event. The weather was in stark contrast to the wind gusts and bitter cold that plagued Friday’s slopestyle competition.
Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas, of Norway, won the women’s slopestyle competition.
The 21-year-old White likes to do his most difficult tricks first and got off to a fast start Saturday. Soaring out of the pipe, he performed back-to-back 1080s in his first run, landing cleanly and eliciting roars of approval from the crowd. His final run turned into a victory lap capping his two-day domination.
“It’s tough to do the double sport thing … ,” said White, also an accomplished skateboarder. “I’ve got the expectation to win.”
Pearce’s friends and family members turned out dressed in green shirts bearing his name and cheered on the hillside when he was awarded $50,000 for winning the Swatch TR World Snowboard Tour, a series of worldwide events.
“It makes you kind of realize that when Shaun’s gonna’ go, you don’t really have a chance,” Pearce said.
