Kelly Clark & Kevin Pearce Win Burton European Open Halfpipe

LAAX, Switzerland (Jan. 16, 2009) – Kelly Clark (USA) and Kevin Pearce (USA) won the 10th Annual Burton European Open halfpipe finals for the second consecutive year. Each will take home $15,000 USD. Shaun White (USA) and Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas (NOR) earned second place and Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI) and Paulina Ligocka (POL) took third place.

Today, the Volvo XC 60s were also awarded to the best overall female and male BEO riders. Shaun White (USA) and Kjersti Buaas (NOR) are the lucky new drivers of the Volvo XC 60s after their strong performances in both the slopestyle and halfpipe events. Kjersti was so happy to win the car and said, “I’ve never won a car before, and my car is breaking down, so I’m super stoked to win the Volvo!” Shaun followed up by saying, “I’ve had a great time in Switzerland. Thanks for the car, the chocolate and the champagne.”

Both Kelly and Kevin were thrilled to win the BEO halfpipe titles for the second year in a row. After her winning run, Kelly said, “I knew the judges wanted to see variety, so I switched up my runs everytime. And finally at the end of the contest, I got the run I wanted and landed back-to-back 7s. So I’m super happy to win the BEO again, it’s a great event, the level of riding was so high and I love being a part of the progression of women’s snowboarding.”

Kevin, who was trailing Shaun White throughout the competition, also pulled together his best run on his last run and was so happy with the results, “I knew I had to come out with something hot if I wanted to beat Shaun’s score, and I’m really glad it worked out.” said Kevin. “Laax and the BEO have been good to me, I love it here – especially after having such good luck two years in a row.”

Today’s competition was a great way to wrap up the BEO’s 10th birthday party, with classic riders like snowboarding’s first Olympic gold medalists Nicola Thost (GER) and Gian Simmen (SUI) gracing the halfpipe finals along with current halfpipe superstars Kevin Pearce (USA), Kelly Clark (USA), Shaun White (USA) and Danny Davis (USA). Perhaps the best birthday gift the 10th annual BEO could have received was the weather, which was nearly perfect for the entire week.

~ by hrocker on January 16, 2009.