Snowboarding

Jacob & Gulini Win Canyons Grand Prix

by
USSA
2013-03-02 15:37
 

PARK CITY, Utah (Mar. 2) - Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City, UT) and Trevor Jacob (Mammoth Lakes, CA) took the top spots in the 2013 Sprint U.S. Grand Prix at Canyons. The two also clinched the U.S. Championship titles, beating out the competition on a tight course with wet, rutted snow. Hagen Kearney (Telluride, CO) and Alex Tuttle (Stratton, ME) finished second and third for the men.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City, UT) took her second consecutive win at the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix as well as her second consecutive U.S. Championship title.
  • Trevor Jacob (Mammoth Lakes, CA), in his fifth race ever, won and took the National Championship title for his first career win.
  • Hagen Kearney (Telluride, CO) and Alex Tuttle (Stratton, ME) finished second and third for the men.
  • Kearney and Tuttle are new to the rookie team this year after a stand out season last year on the NorAm circuit.
  • Saturday’s event was a career best finish for Kearney and Tuttle.
  • Brooke Shaw (Litchfield, CT) finished fourth on account of a missed gate.
  • Noticeably absent from the final, favorites Nick Baumgartner (Iron, MI) and defending U.S. Champ Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, ID) were both taken out in quarter final by rookie teammate Kearney and fellow American Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, CO).
  • Third place qualifier Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME) was eliminated in the first round.
  • Alex Deibold (Manchester Center, VT) after strong second place finish at Sochi World Cup tangled up with Jonathan Cheever (Saugus, MA) in the quarter final knocking them both out of the competition.
  • In the men’s final Kearney led the race down to the last air when Jacob was able to launch past him and get over the line first
  • During the women’s final Shaw defended her second place position against Canada's Michelle Brodeur, but missed a gate and was bumped down to fourth.
  • Callan Chythlook-Sifsof (Girdwood, AK) was hungry for the finals but all girls in the quarter final fell 10 feet from finish line and she had to settle for sixth place.
  • The sun beat down on the tight course all day long creating wet, rutted snow that caused lots of crashes and passing opportunities.

QUOTES
Faye Gulini
There's a lot of room for consequence in snowboardcross and I really tried to focus on myself on this race. I am glad I was able to do well and race my own race and get down to the bottom. I put a lot of pressure on myself and I was nervous this morning and I usually don't race the best when I am feeling like that. Because of the National Championship title I actually felt a lot more pressure the second time around and I was real nervous up top. Being nervous is always my biggest enemy because I ride awful when I am nervous. I get so jittery that my legs don't move as fast as they should. I tried to strategize because this last jump was hard to clear and the speed kept slowing down each run and it was really throwing people off and we were kind of bouncing all over the place. I just tried to throw in an extra pop when the speeds are slower.

We are leaving on Monday for Switzerland and then to Spain for World Cup finals and I am looking forward to it. This is home turf and I couldn't be more happy to be here and I am so excited to be on the podium. My friends and my family are here and it's nice to have that support; it's also sunny and wonderful outside today!

Trevor Jacob
This is my fifth race and I just wanted to go! I am just happy! I am so happy to get to race with Hagen, he is the best and one of my good friends. When Alex crashed, I was behind Hagen and I tried to catch up to Hagen and it worked out. I grew up racing motocross and I just like to go out and have a good time. When I saw this sport and Shaun Palmer basically invented this sport. To me this is motocross on snow and that's the best because snowboarding is my favorite. The weather is beautiful and it was a long race day, but I have had the best time racing and hanging out with all the snowboardcross athletes.

RESULTS
Men's Results
Women's Results

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