American Maddie Bowman took her first step toward the Sochi Olympics, winning the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships ski halfpipe in Breckenridge, Colo., on Friday.
Bowman, 19, pulled off a pair of 900s on the first of two runs. Her first-run score, 89.60, held up through the second run. Bowman, the reigning Winter X Games champion, is considered a medal contender in the first Olympic ski halfpipe in Sochi, should she make the team.
“All the girls killed it,” Bowman said. “Everyone’s been pushing it so hard.”
Full Breckenridge schedule, contenders
Bowman edged another American, Angeli VanLaanen, the top qualifier from Wednesday, who had 89.00 points. 2011 X Games silver medalist Brita Sigourney took third with 88.20.
VanLaanen, 28, took a three-year break from halfpipe skiing to treat Lyme disease and finished sixth at the World Championships in March.
Breckenridge marks the first of five stops in the Olympic trials process. The others are on the U.S. Grand Prix schedule — Copper Mountain, Colo., Northstar, Calif., Park City, Utah, and Mammoth Mountain, Calif.
The five events will determine Olympians in snowboard halfpipe and the new Olympic events of snowboard slopestyle and ski halfpipe and ski slopestyle. The Olympic rosters are expected to be announced Jan. 22.
The overall Olympic qualification standings will be determined by the two best results for an athlete over the trials tour. No more than four athletes can make the U.S. Olympic Team per event. It’s possible fewer than four will be named for some events.
The action can be live streamed here all weekend.
Breckenridge Women’s Ski Halfpipe
1. Maddie Bowman (USA) 89.60
2. Angeli VanLaanen (USA) 89.00
3. Brita Sigourney (USA) 88.20
6. Devin Logan (USA) 75.00
8. Annalisa Drew (USA) 38.00
