Thousands Gather for Superpipe & Big Air in Whistler
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April 24, 2006
Whistler, BC (Whistler Press Release)—Thousands of spectators gathered in Whistler to take in the Salomon Superpipe and PlayStation Big Air events during the final weekend of the 2006 TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival. The action went down on Saturday, April 22 at the Salomon Superpipe finals on Blackcomb Mountain, where near-perfect conditions allowed both skiers and snowboarders to pull off some of the most spectacular pipe performances of the season. Then, the entertainment continued into the evening under night-lights, at the base of Whistler Mountain, where skiers and snowboarders competed together in the PlayStation Big Air event to an estimated crowd of 18,000 people alongside hip-hop legends Blackalicious and MC Supernatural.
“The weekend was all about action and the bigger the better for the Superpipe and Big Air finals,” said Lindsay O’Brien, Athlete Manager for W1, and the TELUS World Ski & Snowboard Festival. “Having the skiers and riders compete together in these competitions has created a new level of energy as each of them feeds off the creativeness and immense skill of their counterparts. The winners are not only the participants but definitely the spectators, and skiing and snowboarding in general, since the quality of entertainment that results is top-notch.”
The Salomon Superpipe’s women snowboard finalists were first, Soko Yamaoka, second, Dominique Vallee and third, Tricia Byrnes. For men’s snowboard, Crispin Lipscomb landed in first place, with Takaharu Nakai placing second, and Taka Ishihara coming in third. Andreas Hatveit was crowned winning male skier at Saturday’s pipe finals, with Mike Riddle and Justin Dorey, second and third place respectively. On the women’s side, skier Marie Martinod won, with Sarah Burke, second, and third was Kristi Leskinen.
A selection of male and female skiers and snowboarders took to the skies again at the PlayStation Big Air finals with one winner crowned for each discipline. This year’s PlayStation Big Air winner for snowboarders was TJ Schneider, just beating out Mike Page who came second, and Travis Williams third. For skiers, Jon Olsson captured first place, with TJ Schiller in second, and Sammy Carlson rounding out the top three line-up.
For more information on the final results, please visit www.whistler2006.com