Fans look to the Burton U.S. Open with a mixture of anticipation, excitement, relief and sadness. This no-holds-barred event marks the end of the major contest season, as well as the bittersweet beginning-of-the-end of the snowboard season.
With a full roster of sponsors — such as GO211.com, Stratton Mountain Resort, SWATCH TTR, Volvo, Amp Energy, Paul Mitchell, Nature Valley, Shiseido, Emergen-C, SteelSeries, Corona, R.E.D., ANON, Analog and Gravis — all eyes were on the weekend to see if the recent downturn would affect industry or spectator attendance.
Figures compiled for SIA indicate snowboarding and rider-ship continue to grow, despite the recent economic downturn. The number of snowboarding Americans age seven or older, who went at least twice a year, increased from 3.6 million in 1998 to 5.1 million the winter of 2007-08. Skiers dropped from 7.7 million participants to 5.5 million over the same period. Between the two groups, they posted 60.5 million skier/rider visits to ski areas last winter, a record despite the softening economy.
Over all, this year’s Open attendance was quieter than years’ past. Regardless, Saturday’s half-pipe competition dawned with a full house of spectators, easing fears that the weekend wouldn’t bring in hoped-for numbers. An estimated 15,000 fans attended the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships by week’s end.
When reigning super-star Shaun White injured his ankle during the half-pipe finals, a surge of male competitors raced to take his place.
The women dropped in first, with Kelly Clark taking the top spot early on. But Torah Bright’s final run sealed the deal and earned her a coveted spot in the US Open history books, tying Clark for the most U.S. Open women’s half-pipe titles. “I feel great,” said Bright. “I didn’t realize that I tied with Kelly for the most wins. It feels really good, especially because the U.S. Open is such a special event.”
In the men’s finals, Luke Mitrani was the star of the first runs with his signature switch double-back flip. Last year’s Burton Global Open Series champion Peetu Piiroinen’s second run earned him first place for a hot second,but the podium order changed in the third run, when snowboarding superstar Danny Kass took first with a winning run.
Danny had this to say about his record-breaking fifth U.S. Open half-pipe title, “I feel amazing, I am beyond stoked that this is my fifth win. It feels great to come out again and put together some runs. I was feeling it today for sure.”