Farrington and Gold Clinch Sochi Spots

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.

HIGHLIGHTS

• 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, and she will join her brother Taylor Gold on the Olympic halfpipe team.
• Olympic champion Kelly Clark (West Dover, VT) settled for second while Hannah Teter (Belmont, VT) finished third in the electrifying finale of the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix tour. Clark clinched her team spot earlier in the tour.
• In addition to Olympic qualification, athletes have been competing for a total of $500,000 in cash prizes throughout the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix tour, including a $10,000 bonus for Kelly Clark, the overall halfpipe winner of the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix Tour.
• Farrington’s run: Straight air, backside 900, alley-540 pop tart, switch backside 720, backside 540 and frontside 720.
• Nominations for the U.S. Olympic team for halfpipe as well as the first-ever team for slopestyle snowboarding will be announced Sunday.

QUOTES
Kaitlyn Farrington
I don’t know what happened but I couldn’t be happier to have landed my first run today because that’s just what I wanted to do. I knew if I landed a clean run that I could do well in this contest. So today I just came up having fun and just wanted to land.

I was definitely thinking that Kelly (Clark) was going to win and take over, but I was really surprised that I won. I can’t wait to go to Sochi. I’m excited that I made it.

Hannah Teter
Everyone is claiming that this is the best pipe of the season if not the best in years. It’s just so soft. I definitely felt the heat but sometimes that makes me get in the zone when I know I’ve got to do it, like it’s all or nothing. So, it pushed me to the be in the spotlight…and I like the spotlight. Friday definitely boosted my confidence with two thirds back to back and everyone was riding so good that day. So I knew that if everyone was stomping their runs and I was still getting top three that it was going right.

RESULTS
Official Women’s Results

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