Todd registered his second career victory at the Open with a narrow victory over Terje. You'll remember it was the other way around just three weeks ago at the World's in Tahoe.

Testosterone was running high in the halfpipe as the men's qualifiers and finals went down today at the 15th Annual US Open. It was anyones game for every position except that of first and second. These titles belonged to Todd Richards and Terje Haakonsen, a fact that became evident after both of their first runs.

The competition was run like the World's (the last place these two dueled it out), with the best two out of three runs being combined for the final score. The conditions seemed good with a little bit of sunshine popping in through the holes in the clouds. Temperatures were around 28 degrees, and the snow was a little choppy in the pipe, but nothing unusual for the Ice Coast.

The qualifiers kicked off at around 9:30 AM with 90 competitors getting one run each for a shot in the finals. The first eight qualifiers advanced to the finals, then the remaining 32 men took another run for eight spots. There were a few unexpected qualifiers in the finals, as there often are. Canadian Burton ripper Drae Glover, Ian Spiro, and Jamil Khan made it to the finals for the first time ever, and Open veterans Noah Brandon and Jimi Scott also made the cuts. Vermont local Seth Neary surprisingly wasn't in, but his Euro teammates Fabian Rohrer and Guillaume Chastagnol were. No shows at the top of the run were Jeff Brushie, Joe Curtes, and Jim Rippey who all decided not to compete due to various injuries.

Forum's BJ Leines kicked off the finals this afternoon with a little bit of a shaky first run from a guy who definitely has seen some play in the media this year for his insane freestyle abilities. He was followed by last year's US Open winner Jimi Scott who also seemed to get a rough start. A lot of the riders commented after the competition on the disappointing quality ofthe pipe, which seemed to be attributed to snow conditions and how quickly it broke downafter the qualifiers and practice sessions worked it.

Daniel Franck set the tone for the competition between Terje and Todd Richards with a beautiful first run that nabbed him a score of 32.2. Fabian Rohrer didn't seem quite up to his normal spinning self. He came down low in the transition more than once, sticking it, but not quite pulling off the incredible lines he showed off at the World's.

Terje Haakonsen's first run was smooth and clean, putting the pressure on for those who followed. Sebu Kuhlberg wasn't afraid though pulling a nice alley-oop McTwist that left the crowd applauding. Todd Richards also showed Terje Haakonsen his stuff as he hit everything clean and managed to milk the pipe from start to finish, pulling a crowd pleasing backside grab over the finish mark.

The next two runs were rough for a lot of the competitors as Todd Richards and Terje had put the pressure on everyone with their stunning first runs. Terje stacked hard at the top of his second run, as did Noah Brandon and Bjorn Leines. As the pressure level went up, the mistakes seemed to be moreglaringly obvious. Eighteen year old Ross Powers, a native Vermonter was shining in the pipe. So was Guillaume Chastagnol, who spun the only 1080 of the day in his last run, a move Sebu Kuhlberg has been know to pull in the pipe. Sebu Kuhlberg knowing he had to push it in order to be top three pulled a Mctwist to Mctwist in his last run. One of the more disappointing moments was when Daniel Franck pulled one of the highest Mctwists ever in a competition, rode perfectly for the next few hits and then stacked close to the bottom on his 540.

In the end the contest came down to Terje and Todd. Terje pulled what was said to be his first Haakon flip of the year in a contest, but that wasn't enough to beat Todd who ended up with a final score of 68.3. The crowd went wild upon finding out that Todd had eeked out Terje by .2 of a point. It was a well deserved win though as Todd Richard's saw second to Terje at the World's.

Women's Halfpipe Final Results 3.22.97
Men's Halfpipe Final Results 3.22.97

Ian Price Repeats, Lisa Kosglow and Brigitte Koech Share Super G Wins 3.21.97

Chris Klug and Brigitte Koech Take First In the Duel Slalom 3.20.97

1997 U.S. Open Snowboard Championships Index