Hannah Teter’s pride and joy is not just about her Olympic gold and silver medals, her World Cup victories and her World Championships bronze. While those are impressive accomplishments in her storied career, her real passion is for the Special Olympics and the work she’s done for the organization.
In May, Teter headed to New England to participate in a leg of Unified Relay Across America—a run, bike, skate or walk through all 50 states over six weeks to raise money for the Special Olympics. While Teter was supposed to appear at the kick off of the relay in Augusta, ME, she encountered airline trouble that held her up in Chicago. But after plane delays, she headed east and met up with her parents and two of her brothers in Montpelier, VT to ran a relay leg with her two siblings—taking turns holding the runner’s torch and igniting the cauldron at the state capitol.
Copper Mountain, CO (Dec. 4) – American halfpipe riders dominated an international field during the halfpipe snowboarding qualifiers at the 2014-15 Sprint U.S. Grand Prix in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Ben Ferguson (Bend, OR), Greg Bretz (Mammoth Lakes, CA) and Taylor Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO) picked up right where they left off last season, throwing down huge runs during halfpipe snowboarding qualifiers. Ferguson, who narrowly missed an Olympic start last year, landed the biggest run of the day with a double Crippler and a backside 900 on the first two hits, followed by a Cab double 1080 at the bottom for the highest scoring run of the day (94.5). Olympians Bretz and Gold finished second and third overall with Gold winning the first heat with a frontside double 1080 to Cab 1080 combo.15-year-old rookie rider Jake Pates (Eagle, CO) also put down an impressive run with back-to-back 1080s, earning him his first Grand Prix finals appearance.
VAIL, CO (March 8) – Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) earned her second consecutive World Snowboard Tour halfpipe title with her win at Saturday’s Burton U.S. Open halfpipe final. Thirteen-year-old U.S. Snowboarding rookie Chloe Kim (La Palma, CA) earned the World Snowboard Tour overall title with her third-place finish in the sunny final. Kim is the youngest athlete to ever win the honor. Queralt Castellet of Spain joined Clark and Kim on the podium in second. Highlights of the halfpipe final are set to air on Fox Sports 2 on Monday, Mar. 17th at 7:30 p.m. EST.
ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (Feb. 12) – Team USA athlete Kaitlyn Farrington (Sun Valley, ID) earned the halfpipe snowboarding gold medal while teammate Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) took bronze Wednesday night during a fierce firefight in the Rosa Khutor halfpipe. Clark has now medaled in the last three out of four Olympic Winter Games and has collected more Olympic medals than any other snowboarder in history with two her bronze and one gold. The riveting final will be featured on NBC’s primetime Olympic coverage Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. EST and can be streamed in its entirety on NBCOlympics.com.
PARK CITY, UT (Jan. 19) – The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association announced the nomination of 13 halfpipe and slopestyle snowboarding athletes Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix. Slopestyle snowboarding will be contested in the Olympic Winter Games for the first time ever in Sochi. The five event qualifying series came down to the final stop at Mammoth Mountain, with all but two spots decided during the final event weekend. The formal naming of the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team by the United States Olympic Committee is set for Jan. 27.
MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN, CA (Jan. 19) – Kaitlyn Farrington (Bellevue, ID) clinched her spot on the Olympic halfpipe snowboarding team Sunday with her bold victory at the final event of the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix series. Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO) also secured her Sochi spot Sunday. Olympic champion Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) settled for second while Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT) finished third in the electrifying final. Nominations for the U.S. Olympic team for halfpipe as well as the first-ever team for slopestyle snowboarding will be announced Sunday.
MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN, CA (Jan. 17) – Rookie Taylor Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO) punched a ticket to Sochi Friday with his third-place finish at the fourth halfpipe qualifier at the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix. Defending Olympic Champion Shaun White (Carlsbad, CA) took the victory, putting him one podium away from clinching a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for halfpipe snowboarding. Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) took her second halfpipe victory of the day with Chloe Kim (La Palma, CA) second and Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT) third, an identical podium to the third qualifier staged earlier in the day Friday. The fifth qualifier on Sunday will be the last chance for the halfpipe riders to make their move to score a spot on the Olympic team.
MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN, CA (Jan. 17) – Veteran rider Danny Davis (Truckee, CA) pulled out a clutch victory in the third halfpipe snowboarding Olympic qualifier Friday at the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain. His victory in the progressive, high-scoring qualifier resurrected his Olympic chances and put him in a position to meet qualification criteria with a second place or better in the fourth qualifier. Defending Olympic Champion Shaun White (Carlsbad, CA) did not start the competition after he took a hard fall in Thursday’s first slopestyle qualifier. Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) won for the women after clinching her Olympic team spot at the Copper Grand Prix in December. The athletes will compete in the fourth halfpipe Olympic qualifier Friday afternoon, which will be broadcast on NBCSN and streamed live at nbcsports.com/liveextra at 4:00 p.m. EST.
BRECKENRIDGE, CO (Jan. 6) – The nation’s top snowboarding athletes continue the fight for Olympic team spots Jan. 6-11 when the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix sets up shop at Breckenridge for halfpipe and slopestyle competitions. The event serves as the third of five Olympic qualification events as well as the second stop of the 18-year-old Sprint U.S. Grand Prix Tour. Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) is the only athlete that has mathematically secured a spot on the team, bringing the competition down to the wire for a heavy hitting core of athletes. NBC and NBCSN will feature television coverage of the events.
MT. HOOD, OR (July 12) – U.S. Snowboarding’s top riders will be preparing for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Sochi with a pair of on-snow training sessions at High Cascade Snowboard Camp in Mt. Hood. Olympic medalists Kelly Clark (W. Dover, VT), Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT), Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO) and Scotty Lago (Seabrook, NH) will be among the athletes training in High Cascade’s 22’ superpipe.
