COPPER MOUNTAIN — If it seems sometimes as if the world’s best halfpipe snowboarders are riding on autopilot, it’s probably because they are. Sometimes.
Other times, they struggle to find their way, feeling their way around blind corners like the rest of us.
Saturday’s U.S. Halfpipe Grand Prix saw a little bit of both, as proven performers and up-and-coming challengers alike stepped up to take a hack at the first top-tier snowboard contest of a new season.
Reigning champion Louie Vito picked up right where he left off, and Kaitlyn Farrington proved she deserves to be mentioned among the sport’s best.
Vito, a 2010 Olympic competitor from Columbus, Ohio, wowed the crowd on a blustery powder day with a first run through the 22-foot superpipe that would have contended for an Olympic medal.
His now signature back-to-back double-cork 1080s began the winning run that also included a mandatory straight air, backside 900 and frontside 1080, pulling the top score of 27.9 out of a possible 30.
No one else even attempted the difficult combo, although Vito’s pal, Luke Mitrani of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., did drop a clean Cab double-cork 1080 into his second-place run, scoring a 26.7.
Third place went to Olympic bronze medalist Scotty Lago of New Hampshire to complete a U.S. podium sweep that extended to Steamboat Springs rider Matt Ladley in fourth and Golden’s JJ Thomas in fifth.
“I have mine pretty much on lock,” Vito, 22, said of the back-to-back moves that separated him from the field of 16 finalists. “With it not being a perfect, sunny pipe, maybe some people might not have felt it, but I don’t really know what they were thinking. I just focused on what I’m trying to do.”
That focus ultimately may have been the deciding factor that separated the close-knit trio that shared the men’s podium.
Only a week back from a trip to China, Lago spent little time preparing for the season-opening contest, dropping into the pipe only “four or five” times before the event.
Mitrani actually forgot his trick sequence halfway through his run.
“I meant to do a 900, but I got all mixed up with all the spinning or whatever, so I forgot and did a Stale Fish,” the 20-year-old said.
On the women’s side, Sun Valley, Idaho’s Farrington posted her career-best Grand Prix result by toppling two-time Olympic medalist and reigning Winter X Games champion Kelly Clark with a pair of impressive runs good for a top score of 28.3.
Farrington, who turns 21 next week, linked a series of technical tricks including a backside 900 and a couple of inverted 720s to beat one of her heroes in the sport.
Rana Okada of Japan finished third.
“I have always looked up to Kelly, and I just can’t believe that today I beat her for the first time,” Farrington said. “I worked on those technical tricks a lot last year, and I’m just glad that it all came together this year. It’s a good way to start out the season, for sure.”
