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Show SN aPlun/Mon/Tues, January' 23-26, 2010 • an extreme sport by choice PHOTO BY ROCKY MALONEYASfiOCMALONEY PHOTOGRAPHY Last chance for Olympics Wft' were training Wednesday for the final Grand Prix events said they were nervous that an incoming snow storm would make, the halfpipe competition at Park City Mountain , Resort more difficult. However. Krista Parry, spokesperson for PCMR, said the resort is more than prepared. "We're used to this." Parry said. "We've been holding halfpipe competitions for more than eight years and all but one year we've been able to move ahead." Parry said the snow should make the whole •: experience more "magical'" but not dangerous for 'jg the athletes. She said PCMR will send slippers//, down the halfpipe to clear out any fresh powder '*' that could get in the way of the athletes. Residents are invited to watch the athletes as they compete on PCMR's 22-foot halfpipe. Both men's and women's finals - there are no qualifying competitions - will begin at 6:30 p.m. Saturday with awards immediately following. A free concert will be performed by 30 Seconds from Mars at the base of the First Time lift followed by the naming of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team. All events are free to the public. Nearly 30 athletes descended on Park City last week to train for the final qualifying event that could lake them to the Olympics. Shaun While (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Kelly Clark (Mt. Snow. Vt.) have already secured spots, with Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, Colo.) the leading contender on the women's side and Louie Vito (Sandy, Utah) leading the men. Six of the eight members of the Olympic team will be named after Saturday night's event with two more members to be named next week, said Lindsey Sine, public relations coordinator for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. After Friday night's competition, snowboarders doing the math will have a pretty good idea who's going to the Olympics. Although Friday's results were not available at press time, Scotty Lago (Seabrook. N.H.) said on Wednesday he needs a third-place finish at the very least. "I'll be happy with a third but I'm really going for a first or second," Lago said. "I feel like this pipe is to my advantage. I'm feeling more confident than I ever have." Up and comers Broc Waring (Vail, Colo.) and Brennen Swanson (Stillwater, Minn.) said they're just hoping to finish in the top five, while Luke and Jeff Mitrani (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) are hoping to compete for the remaining Olympics spots. been a great person to be on the U.S. team. He represents snowboarding well. I think he'd be a great representative ... to go show the world what snowboarding is Scotty Lago sat comfortably on a bed all about. It's just so unfortunate." of snow with his feet propped on lop of Despite the injuries to their fellow his board and his eyes - shaded from the snowboarders, and partly because Davis bright Park City sun with his goggles - was injured in a non-snowboarding sport, staring straight ahead as he watched his these athletes seem undaunted. fellow competitors cleanly landing their Lago said he's been working on a runs on Park City Mountain Resort s 22- backside 10, when his normal run consists foot halfpipe. All around him sat of a backside 9. and a cab 1080. Olympic hopefuls talking, not about the "if I need to throw down a hammer (at tricks they just attempted or the possibil- this weekend's Grand Prix), then I'm ity that they could get hurt if they didn't gonna go to those tricks," he said. land their runs just right, but instead, "They're not my most consistent tricks, about what they wanted to eat for dinner. but if I do them good, then I'll be in (the With only one Grand Prix event left top three). 1 believe 1 can do what I need for the group of 30 athletes to secure the to do without doing those tricks. If I can't, remaining Olympic spots - Shaun White if it comes down to it, then Til throw and Kelly Clark already have two of them." those spots with Louie Vito nearly imposWaring said the pressure to do well, sible to beat - the snowboarders are and add new tricks to each run, is somemore concerned about having a "sick" thing the athletes put on themselves. run than they are about falling and suf"We choose it on our own," he said. fering a traumatic injury. ''We'll see what tricks are working and But that doesn't mean it's far from where in the pipe and kind of link them their minds. With their friends Kevin together. Each year, people are going Pearce and Danny Davis in Utah hospi- bigger and doing new tricks. Double tals, the athletes know how dangerous corks are like the new hotness this the sport is - if you focus on it too much, year." that is. Brennen Swanson added: 'if you're worried about getting hurt "Everyone's pushing it as hard as they then chances are you're going to get can all the time. It's not like we're hurt," Broc Waring said. doing it and its not fun. Progressing is Waring, a good friend of Davis1 who really fun for us. You can learn a new expected to compete with him this week- trick, and no matter how scary or end at PCMR, said he believes Davis will crazy the trick was, it's a really good be "healed up quick" and back on the feeling when you land it. It really just mountain. Lago, who reportedly wit- depends on how bad the athletes want nessed Pearce's accident, said he felt it and how (hard) they're going to push Davis and Pearce could have taken those it. I think with any sport, when you're tryOlympic spots if they hadn't been ing to be at the top and trying to be the injured. best, you push it to its limits. That might Pearce suffered head injuries Dec. 31 mean you're going to get hurt. And if you while training at PCMR on the halfpipe. don't end up getting hurt, then you're the Doctors said they are optimistic about his No. 1." recovery and that he continually makes Swanson agreed that, when it new strides. Davis was injured Jan. 17 comes to pushing the limits, it's the while riding an ATV. He underwent sur- athletes, not the parents or coaches, gery the next day to repair an L3 spine who are fueling their ambition to fracture. A message on his Facebook do better. He said snowboarders page said the surgery had gone well. don't want to be told to slow Davis' friend, Elliott Levitt, also down. injured in the ATV accident, is being "That's the last thing we treated in intensive care for a fractured want to hear." he said. femur, but Lago would not comment on "The opportunities and Levitt except to say that he is a fellow the tricks we can learn snowboarder and is doing well. are endless so I don't "I just feel really bad for him." Lago know why people said of Davis, "i think he would have would ever stop proBy JEN WATKINS Of the Record staff gressing. And although the 22-foot halfpipe is new to the Olympics this year, Waring said they've been riding it for three years and no longer wanted the 18-footer. "This is something we wanted," he said. "Some of the Dew Tours are still using 18-foot pipes so it's always a hard transition from the 22. We're a lot more comfortable on the 22-foot pipes now." Waring said that while the 22-foot halfpipes are faster, they are actually safer. "You got more wall to land on." he said. "It's not as easy to fall apart and land on a flat bottom or land on the deck." Throughout the competition this weekend, Swanson said the athletes will be thinking of their friends, Davis and Pearce. "They're two really good people," he said. ''I just hope they get well. We need people like those guys around to continue helping guys like me and (Waring) to continue to push ourselves." 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