MOUNT SNOW, Vt. Shannon Dunn has done it again.
For the second consecutive day, the 28-year-old snowboarder climbed onto the
2001 Winter X Games podium, this time ascending to its highest spot to collect her SuperPipe gold at Mount Snow, Vt.
On Friday the Tahoe Vista, Calif. resident won the silver medal in the Slopestyle discipline and Saturday
she became the first double medalist of this year's games. "Everyone was really pushing each other out there," Dunn said.
Dunn used a dynamite third run filled with inverted tricks to post a 94.33, thereby earning her fourth career X Games medal.
Dunn claimed a silver medal in the halfpipe two years ago and a gold in 1997 in the same event. She didn't compete in last year's Winter X Games.
Natasza Zurek, of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, captured the silver medal in the competition with a score of 90.00, sliding up one spot from her bronze medal finish a year ago at the same event. It is the 22-year-old's second career X Games medal.
"This is the best contest of the season," Zurek said of her weekend experience at the event.
Fabienne Reuteler, an up-and-coming 21-year-old boarder from Zurich, Switzerland posted an 89.00 making her first X Games a memorable experience as she snared the bronze medal.
UltraCross Finals
Shaun Palmer found a new way to get onto the Winter X Games podium with a partner.
Palmer and teammate Hiroomi Takizawa claimed the gold medal in the UltraCross competition. Palmer left the skiing to Takizawa while he hopped on his board all the way to victory. This marks the South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
native's sixth career Winter X medal all gold.
"I'm really happy that we pulled it off," Palmer said. "We held it together
which is really important in an event like this since it's such a
crapshoot."
Local snowboarder Jason Evans was paired with a teammate from a faraway land
as the E. Dummerston, Vt. resident joined Isidor Gruener, from Soelden, Austria on the slopes. The unlikely duo raced to the silver medal.
"I am going home with a medal and that was my goal when I came here,"
Gruener said.
Meanwhile, Pontus Staahlkloo, a Mora, Sweden native teamed with skier Matt
Murphy, from Big Sky, Mont., to capture the bronze medal.
Men's Snowboarding Superpipe Finals
For the past few months, 18-year-old Dan Kass has been out to make a name
for himself on the halfpipe circuit. The Mammoth Lakes, Calif. resident
accomplished that by winning a gold medal in the Men's SuperPipe finals in
his very first Winter X appearance. Kass' score of 95.33 overwhelmed the
rest of the competition as he won by over three full points.
"The course was fast, hard and amazing to ride," Kass said. "The people are
great here; everyone was raising the roof."
Kass' brother, Matt, finished 20th.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old Tommy Czeschin, also of Mammoth Lakes, Calif.,
continued his on-course X feud with southern Vermont local, Ross Powers. The
21-year-old Powers of South Londonderry, finished with the silver medal a
year ago while Czeschin nabbed the bronze. This year, the two flip-flopped
positions as Czeschin edged out Powers.
"This is such an awesome contest," Czeschin said. "There are so many good
riders here."
Although both of their best runs scored 91.67 with the judges,
Czechin's second best run was higher and he moved up a spot on the podium.
"I am just stoked to be on the podium," Powers said of his silver.
"I just went out and tried stuff that felt good."
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