Stratton Mountain, VT – Elena Hight won the Burton U.S. Open halfpipe on Saturday at Stratton Mountain in Vermont, ending Kelly Clark’s streak of 16 consecutive wins. On the men’s side Shaun White won yet another halfpipe event.

U.S. riders swept both the men’s and women’s podium. Ellery Hollingsworth, of Darien, Conn., followed Clark with a third place finish, while Louie Vito, of Sandy Utah, and U.S. Snowboarding Rookie Team athlete Benji Farrow, of Ludlow, Vt., rounded out the men’s podium in second and third, respectively.

The winning run from Hight, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., featured 900s back-to-back and a huge method air.

“It was definitely an amazing day out here and all the girls are just pushing it. Kelly is the level that we’ve all been trying to reach,” said Hight. “Kelly’s been inspiring for the last two years, to all of us, and it’s definitely been something to strive for. I couldn’t be happier.”

“I had a hard time putting down some runs today,” acknowledged Clark, “but at the end of the day landing the run that I landed is really what I’m measuring myself up against and that was a great thing to overcome after my practice and after how my runs were going.

“I love being in Vermont because everybody’s so supportive,” she added. Clark hails from the small southern Vermont town of West Dover, near Mount Snow. “I guess if I was going to break my streak I might as well break it here because they’re still gonna love me.”

The 6Star Burton US Open marked the close of the 2011/2012 TTR World Tour. Clark and Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov clinched the TTR Halfpipe World Tour Champion titles and Stale Sandbech of Norway, and Cilka Sadar of Slovenia were awarded with the TTR Overall World Tour titles. Sandbech and Sadar are consistent in both pipe and slopestyle, a growing rarity in snowboarding.  Cilka registered 14 TTR results throughout the season with almost a perfect balance of entries in halfpipe an slopestyle, disciplines making her one of the most versatile women snowboarders in the world today.

Sandbech also registered 14 TTR results throughout the season across slopestyle, halfpipe and big air disciplines.  Although he wasn’t able to get a top spot in halfpipe, Sandbech took podium spots in slopestyle at the Burton New Zealand Open and in big air at the Air & Style Beijing.

“I wasn’t really going for it at the start of the season,” he admitted, “but then I was leading and thought ‘wow, maybe i can actually do this!’ Now at the end, it was exciting ’cause I didn’t qualify for today but it is really cool to be part of that legendary list of riders who won it before.”

Next up for the freestyle snowboarders is the European X Games, scheduled for Tignes in France, March 14-16.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Burton U.S. Open – Stratton Mountain, Vt. – Mar. 10, 2012
Halfpipe

Women:

Men: