Vail, CO – The 31st annual Burton U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships presented by MINI has announced an impressive list of confirmed riders, all on deck to compete for the first time in Vail, Colo., from Feb. 25 to Mar. 2. Some of the biggest names in snowboarding are confirmed, including Shaun White, Mark McMorris, Kelly Clark, Torah Bright, Jamie Anderson, Iouri Podladtchikov and more, who are all heading to Vail Mountain for the Burton U.S. Open slopestyle and halfpipe competitions.
“The US Open is one of snowboarding’s legendary events, and some of my best competition memories are of competing at Vail, so for me, bringing the two together is all time,” said White. “I’m excited to compete in Vail’s new pipe and see everyone come out for the next evolution of this contest.”
The 31st edition will takem place in Vail, the first time the event will ever be held outside of Vermont. It all gets started on Wednesday, Feb. 27 with slopestyle semi-finals. At the U.S. Open, many of the best slopestyle competitors in the world are confirmed to compete, including McMorris, the X Games slopestyle gold medalist from Canada, as well as 2012 Burton European Open (BEO) slopestyle winner Aleksander Oestreng of Norway, 2012 U.S. Open slopestyle champ and 2013 World Snowboard Tour Big Air title winner Sebastien Toutant of Canada, and World Snowboard Tour overall title holder Stale Sandbech of Norway, among others. The women’s line-up is equally impressive, with X Games gold medalist and 2012 U.S. Open slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., as well as 2012 X Games gold medalist Enni Rukajarvi of Finland, Norwegian Olympian Kjersti Ostgaard Buaas, three-time BEO Junior Jam winner Ty Walker of Stowe, Vt., and Slovenian rider Cilka Sadar all confirmed to compete.
On Thursday, Feb. 28, the legendary Burton U.S. Open halfpipe semi-finals begin. The U.S. Open halfpipe rider list is stacked with nine Olympians, including: Shaun White, of Carlsbad, Calif.; Sandy, Utah’s Louie Vito; California’s Greg Bretz; Kazuhiro Kokubo of Japan; women’s snowboarding sensation Kelly Clark, of West Dover, Vt.; Tahoe’s Elena Hight; Vermonter Hannah Teter; and Australian Torah Bright. Also competing will be World Snowboarding Championships gold medalist Iouri Podladtchikov of Switzerland, Spain’s Queralt Castellet, Finn Peetu Piiroinen, Christian Haller of Switzerland, and 14-year-old halfpipe phenom and 2013 X Games silver medalist Ayumu Hirano from Japan.
Competitors and spectators alike will find Olympic-level snowboarding competitions during the day at Vail’s Golden Peak and soon to be announced top music acts by night in Solaris, all for free. The entire event is open to the public with slopestyle finals taking place on Friday, Mar. 1 at 10:30 a.m. (Mountain Time) and halfpipe finals going down on Saturday, March 2 at 10:30 a.m.