BRECKENRIDGE, Colo.—Olympic gold medalist Shaun White won the snowboard slopestyle competition, and Canada’s Spencer O’Brien took the women’s event Friday in the first stop on the inaugural Winter Dew Tour.
The 22-year-old White, from Carlsbad, Calif., scored 95.17 points on his second run, which began with a frontside 270 at the top rail, a frontside 1,080 on the first jump to a backside 900. He closed with a a 3 1/2-revolution spin on the bottom jump.
“I knew I could do it, I just kind of believed in that spin at the end there,” White said. “I didn’t really practice it at all, but for some reason I knew I had it.”
Norway’s Mikkel Bang (92.33) was second, followed by Finland’s Janne Korpi (86.17).
“I’m excited,” said White, the Dew Cup skateboard vert winner in the summer series. “I’m doing all the stops so this is nice for me to start it off right.”
On the women’s side, O’Brien won the event with a gap to boardslide to fakie, into a switch backside 780, a backside 360 and a backside 540 off the jumps to finish with a 5,050 to frontside boardslide on the bottom rail. She earned 85.00 points.
“I was really nervous coming in,” O’Brien said. “It was a lot bigger than I expected seeing it’s the first contest of the year. But all the girls took to it really well. The course was just amazingly built and it was so much fun so once I got over my fear it was awesome.”
Britain’s Jenny Jones (77.33) was second, followed by Bev Vuilleumier of Lake Tahoe, Calif., at 74.17.
The four-day competition is the first of three stops on the tour that features freeskiing and snowboarding.
