February 15, 2001

After the first full day of competition at the 2001 Vans Championships, the Snowboard Cross Qualifying is complete. With optimal snow conditions today�s qualifying couldn�t have been better. More than 120 riders participated in qualifying with each getting two timed runs, the best of which counted towards their seeding for tomorrow�s finals. Every rider will come to Snow Summit tomorrow with their eye on the title and their share of the $50,000 in prize money.

With 85 riders in the Men�s Division taking two runs each in the Snowboard Qualifying, the competition was fierce. Phillipe Conte was the one being chased by the field as he recorded the fastest run of the day at a mere 45.31 seconds. Just behind Conte was Breckenridge winner Xavier DeLeRue who was just .06 seconds off the lead. Drew Neilson recorded the third fastest lap of the day registering a time of 45.47 seconds. Xavier Jordan and Ueli Kestenholz rounded out the top-five. Tomorrow�s finals is sure to be exciting as the top eight qualifiers were within one second of the fast run.

At the top of the Women�s Division is Line Oestvold from Norway, who posted a best run of 50.58 seconds. Just .03 seconds behind Oestevold was Doris Krings with Cathrine Poetzl just .24 seconds behind her with a best run of 50.85 seconds. Erin Simmons and Marni Yamada round out the top-five.

SUPERPIPE PREVIEW

Today was the first day riders got to practice on the Superpipe at Snow Summit and needless to say, it was nothing less than spectacular. With five hours of practice time, riders got a good chance to hone their skills for this Superpipe competition. Leading the way on the pipe this afternoon, were perennial favorites Ross Powers, Shaun White, Danny Kass, Carabeth Burnside and Natasza Zurek.