OXBOW BACK TO POWDER is OXBOW very first 100% backcountry snowboard film directed by Invert Production.

The OXBOW team – made up of the riders JP Solberg (Norway), Kalle Ohlson (Sweden), Thomas Gérin (France), Adan Baserba Berrocal (Spain), Thomas Delfino (France), Sophie Rodriguez (France) and David Livet (France) – headed off to the world’s mountains carving fresh tracks through the powder. In total 9 countries were explored by this group of snowboarders searching for the ideal spot.

We’re all incredibly excited for the first Euro X Games and whether they will blow us away as the legendary mother event in the US.

During the women’s Snowboard SuperPipe elimination yesterday it was riders who were almost blown away literally, fortunately the winds slowed down during the day though and Torah Bright proofed she’s worth every ounce of her Olympic gold medal by scoring way above the other contestants without even pulling the bad boys. But also Ellery Hollingsworth impressed with huge back-to-back 7s as well as Sophie Rodriguez, who brought a whole school of kids to support her. Together with Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas, Mercedes Nicoll, and Kaitlyn Farrington they make up the finals on Friday.

FULL RESULTS:

1. Torah Bright
2. Ellery Hollingsworth
3. Sophie Rodriguez
4. Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas
5. Mercedes Nicoll
6. Kaitlyn Farrington
7. Cilka Sadar
8. Ursina Haller
9. Linn Haug
10. Elena Hight
11. Sarka Pancochova
12. Anne-Sophie Pellissier
13. Mirabelle Thovex
14. Sina Candrian
15. Cheryl Maas

More information on: winterxgameseurope.com

Not THAT perverted. Teter has an underwear brand that donates proceeds to charity. Photo: Danny Burrows.

Onboard editor in chief Danny Burrows was on the ground at Cypress Mountain to watch the women’s pipe contest and fired this report over the wire…

Torah Bright did Australia proud yesterday by winning gold in the women’s halfpipe contest at Cypress Mountain, beating what was perhaps the strongest
field of female pipe rippers yet seen in a women’s contest.

By placing first in the qualifications Torah secured a place in the finals along with previous Olympic medalists Kelly Clark and Hannah Teter, X Games
winner Gretchen Bleiler and two relatively unknown riders Sun Zhifeng and the Spaniard Queralt Castellet.

Qualifying results

Sun and her Chinese teammate Jiayu Liu are part of a select group of former martial artists and gymnasts who were plucked from state run sports schools
to ride snowboards five years ago. That said, their riding certainly doesn’t look forced, combining amplitude with tight spins, solid grabs and ample servings of style.

Joining the six riders who qualified for the finals would be the top six women from the semis. 17 year-old Liu stuck an amazing first run that secured her an early lead which was not broken until the second round when Australian Holly Crawford blazed an incredible run that included sweet sevens with plenty of amplitude. The US rider Elena Hight, who was the first girl to land a 9 in competition, was also riding well, opening her run with a huge 9 that would also earn her a spot in the finals. The girls to proceed to the finals were Crawford, Liu, Mercedes Nicoll, Hight, Sophie Rodriguez and Ursina Haller.

Semis results

Perhaps the saddest story of this competition was that of Queralt Castellet who had placed second in the qualifying rounds and on the night was perhaps
Torah’s greatest challenge for gold. Just before the semis, while practicing, she caught an edge on her final 5 and knocked herself out for over a minute. Once she had regained consciousness she wanted to carry on but race officials insisted that she was taken to hospital for observation. Apparently she was so annoyed that she managed to make the ambulance drive back to the contest site before eventually succumbing to reason.

Torah’s lead going into the finals came crashing down when she overcooked a switch back 7 on her second hit leaving the top three spots in the hands of Teter, Liu and Rodriguez of France whose run included an opening 9 and back to back 7s and 5s. Kelly Clark, Hight, Haller and Bleiller also fell leaving them with much work to be done in their second run.

Now in last place the pressure was on Torah to perform. And she did: Back 3, switch 7 mctwist, back 5, air to fakie and then a final cork cab 7 to close. The crowd went wild as, with a look of disbelief, she came to a halt at the base of the pipe. This was now the run that everyone would have to chase. Bleiler blew her chances of a medal on the coping as did Hight who was unable to finish a run in which she spun back to back nines, while Kelly Clark put in a final run which put her into bronze just behind Teter with 6 riders to go. Rodgriguez went for a 10 on her first hit, which would have been a first in women’s pipe, but went down hard leaving Liu to make her play for a medal and Teter, who was already in second behind Tora, still wanting gold.

Liu who came through the semis in second place had been riding hard all night and was certainly a challenge to the top three. Unfortunately, a fault on the flat cost her speed in a run that would have certainly earned her silver but left her in fourth. Teter was the final challenger to Torah’s score of 45 and you could have
heard a pin drop as she dropped in. Her Method, front 9, back 5, front 3, cab 7 and frontside air weren’t enough though and the stadium erupted to shouts of “Aussi, Aussi, Aussi! Oi, Oi, Oi!” as a score of 42.4 flashed up on the board.

Finals results

Torah would be the first Australian in history to win gold at the Winter Olympics. It was expected that she might pull her double cork in the contest – she was the only contestant to have them – but in the end her style and amplitude and ample bag of tricks were enough to secure her the most sought after medal.

Torah topping the podium. Photo: Burrows.

Congratulations to all!

US Olympian Louie Vito training in Breckenridge. Photo: Cole Barash.

The majority of nations have made the final selection of who’ll go to Vancouver. See who’ll be flying the flag for you.

So there we were, tapping up our contacts at the various national snowboard organisations trying to get a definitive list of all the guys and girls who’ll be repping their countries in the pipe at the upcoming Olympics and, wouldn’t you know, our homies over at the Swatch TTR World Tour beat us to the punch. Thanks guys!

It must be said, it can often seem the selection process is more confusing than an algebra exam, with each country having different required criteria, and for the riders bidding to go it must certainly be a nerve-wracking experience waiting to see if all the points tally right and planets have aligned properly. But now, for most, the wait is over.

As ever there’s some big names who didn’t make it and some relative unknowns who did so, drum roll please, here’s who’s announced their pipe ninjas so far…

MEN

USA

Shaun White
Scotty Lago
Louie Vito
Greg Bretz

FINLAND

Peetu Piiroinen
Janne Korpi
Ilkka-Eemeli Laari
Markus Malin

FRANCE

Mathieu Crepel
Arthur Longo
Aluan Ricciardi
Gary Zebrowski

SWITZERLAND

Christian Haller
Iouri Podladtchikov
Markus Keller
Sergio Berger

NORWAY

Fredrik Austbø
Tore V. Holvik
Roger S. Kleivdal
Ståle Sandbech

CANADA

Jeff Batchelor
Justin Lamoureux
Brad Martin
Micheal Lambert

AUSTRALIA

Scott James
(15 year old youngest ever snowboarder to compete at a Winter Olympic Games.)
Ben Mates

GREAT BRITAIN

Ben Kilner

NEW ZEALAND

James Hamilton
Mitch Brown

GERMANY

Christophe Schmidt

WOMEN

USA

Gretchen Bleiler
Kelly Clark
Hannah Teter
Elena Hight

SWITZERLAND

Ursina Haller
Manuela Pesko

NORWAY

Kjersti Ø. Buaas
Linn Haug
Lisa H. Wiik

CANADA

Palmer Taylor
Sarah Conrad
Mercedes Nicolls

AUSTRALIA

Torah Bright

POLAND

Paulina Ligocka

NEW ZEALAND

Juliane Bray

Kendall Brown

Rebecca Sinclair

CZECH REPUBLIC

Sarka Pancochova

GREAT BRITAIN

Lesley McKenna

FRANCE

Sophie Rodriguez
Mirabelle Thovex

As you can see, Japan have yet to announce their team and they certainly have riders who can have a say in the final outcome, but them aside all the big hitters are accounted for. Check out over on the TTR webpage where you can see how those riders have been performing on the World Tour so you can have all the information possible when you head down the bookies’ to have a wee flutter.