Previously at the 99 X Games:
Day 1: The Greatest Circus on Snow

The women's competition seemed to improve over yesterday's practice session with Michele Taggart taking gold with back to back 540s, much amplitude on her straight airs, and smooth flow through out her runs. Shannon Dunn came in at a close second with her lofty McTwist and a bunch of spins.

Tricia Byrnes

"The halfpipe was definitely better than yesterday," Dunn said after her final run. "I was just trying not to put pressure on whether I was going to win or not. I just really wanted to do my best. The competition is really good with girls these days. They are pushing each other a lot more. I just hope that the spectators are as stoked to watch the girls as we continue to get better. I really like to see the girls go big and have style and learn new tricks."

In the final run the main competition seemed to be between Tricia Byrnes and Cara-Beth Burnside. Tricia Byrnes was once again showing more amplitude and seemed to have bumped up to a new level with super-tweaked straight airs and smooth runs. Her 540s and 720s and 360s looked effortless. Cara-Beth Burnside was the most innovative halfpipe rider in the contest rolling out of the pipe onto the deck then getting up speed to bonk the tombstone box at the end of her run, showing true skate style. The pressure was on for Burnside in her last run. Michele and Shannon both had strong final runs. Burnside pulled through though taking the bronze medal from Tricia Byrnes by a narrow margin with 79.88 for her combined total runs.

The format for halfpipe this week is the combined total of the best two out of three, giving riders one throw away run. The sun is out, the snow is melting, and the rest of the day will be all about snowboard cross, slopestyle, and pipe practice as riders get ready to get into some heavy competition the rest of the weekend.

Shannon Dunn

As for the Terje update of the day, he didn't break his nose, he just bumped it during slopestyle practice. He's tough though and is ready to race Palmer in tomorrow's snowboard cross. Maybe someone will break into Shaun Palmer's hotel room and sprain his knee so he doesn't have to race Terje.

In the meantime Palmer is reportedly running from practice to practice with two snowmobiles on call for him at all times. Palmer will be competing in the snowboardcross, skiercross, and in the snowbike events. Stay tuned for more action from the X Games as the sun continues to pound down on Crested Butte, Colorado. Writers Note: Apparently my coverage of yesterday's halfpipe practice was a little too harsh. Today I figured I might take it easy on the nice people who put this whole thing together. Instead of saying that the halfpipe was once again flat and a little difficult to ride, I'll say that the all night cat session left the pipe with walls that had a gentle curving slope to them, which can make the riding a little more challenging.