The ISF World Championship finals finally began Saturday afternoon March 1, 1997 as scheduled, after a day confusion and cancellations due to weather. A crowd of nearly a thousand lined the pipe to watch Terje, Daniel Franck, Todd Richards, and the rest of the halfpipe finalists battle it out.

In the women's division there were eight women, in the men's there were sixteen. The best two out of three runs were added together for a final score.

Nicola Thost, the leading woman halfpipe rider, was forced to withdraw from the finals thanks to a slam in the Big Air the night before. The halfpipe began with Carabeth Burnside of South Lake Tahoe dropping in riding smoothly for most of her first run with only slight buttcheck at the end. CB was followed by Tricia Byrnes (also from the USA) who got some really good height in the beginning and pulled a nice fakie to fakie 540 mid-way down the pipe. Stine Brun Kjeldaas was the first Euro represent, pulling a nice backside five and a stale fish with some great height.

Anita Schwaller dropped in next with a backside McTwist to a 540, the first of her three excellent runs. It was evident after each of her runs how pleased she was by her huge smile and relaxed appearance with the conditions of the day.

Bad weather was in the forecast, but the sun popped in and out of a hazy cover throughout the afternoon, making the halfpipe soft until the sun slipped behind the pipe in the men's final heat.

After Anita, Natasza Zurek of Canada dropped in for her first run with a huge method. Michele Taggart and Shannon Dunn, both from the USA followed Natasza. Michele has a great first run with back to back fives and a lot of well executed tricks. Shannon also had a nice first run pushing the contestants a little as she pulled the first seven of the day, butt checking slightly after the difficult spin.

The runs continued to get better every heat. Shannon pulled a 720 fakie to fakie, Michele did an alley oop backside to a frontside 540. CB had a pretty hard fall in her second run at the beginning, which had to have been pretty disappointing for Carabeth as she struggled to hold the rest of the run together. Anita pulled one smooth run after another, probably making it difficult to throw away and of the runs. Stine busted some of the highest airs of the day with really light landings.

Overall, in spite of the heavy US presence in the contest, the Euros dominated the women's division. Anita Schwaller took first, Natasza Zurek was second, and Brun Kjeldaas took third.

The men's division was totally electric as the true contest seemed to be between Daniel Franck, Terje Haakonsen, and Todd Richards. Seth Neary threw down a solid combination of methods, sevens, and McTwists. Both of the Aleksi's (Littovara and Vaninen) impressed the crowd. Littovara pulled an impressive frontside alley oop to a McTwist. Marius Sommers had the first fall of the day for the men's division about halfway down his run, which had to have put a lot of pressure on his next two runs.....(read on)

Big Air: Spinning For Dollars (3-1-97)
Timing Error Forces Slalom Rescheduling (2-27-97)
Championship Halfpipe Qualifiers Delayed (2-27-97)
What's the World Championship All About Anyway? (2-26-97)
The European ISF Worlds AT Tahoe (2-26-97)

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