Mammoth Lakes, CA – Putting pressure aside, after a crash on his first run, Reno, Nev.’s David Wise went huge on his final run and nailed it, scoring a 94.4 for the win at Sunday’s Visa U.S. Grand Prix, FIS World Cup and platinum Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) halfpipe event at Mammoth Mountain as Basalt, Colo.’s Torin Yater-Wallace, who finished fifth, landed the first ever in-competition 1440 double cork. On the women’s side, Brita Sigourney, of Carmel, Calif., placed her own bookend on the freeskiing series with a top finish.

“My first run was pretty good and I was in the zone and feeling good, then I clipped the deck a bit and my ski came off- it’s all a part of the game, it happens,” Wise acknowledged. “Going into my second run I was like ‘Hey you know what? This is just another run. You’ve done a million of these and all you have to do it get out there and land on your feet.’ That’s all that really matters.”

Second place finisher Noah Bowman, of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, said that he performed his signature alley-oop dub nine instead of another special trick he had up his sleeve. “I had something else I wanted to try but I didn’t end up doing it because I didn’t feel confident going into the hit. I guess I thought it was better to keep it safe than to try something dangerous.”

Benoit Valentin of France rounded out the men’s podium in third.

Sunday’s win was the third consecutive victory for Wise and also his third major of the season. Yater-Wallace and Wise have been battling for the top position in the AFP World Ranking lists. The win moves Wise to the top with Yater-Wallace in the second slot.

“My whole year this year has been a battle with the pressure and realizing how to overcome it,” Wise added. “The reality is you are only under as much pressure as you put on yourself.”

The women’s winner Sigourney was also the winner of the first Grand Prix event of the season at Copper Mountain in Colorado. Canada’s Rosalind Groenewoud finished second and Maddie Bowman, of S. Lake Tahoe, Calif., was third for her sixth straight podium result of the season.

“It’s always a relief to land your first run, I’m never that solid on my first run because I’m so jittery, but it’s still a relief,” said Sigourney. “So the next run you can work on cleaning up your tricks and that’s exactly what I did, so I couldn’t be happier. I went big on my final hit [900] because I just don’t think I am going to make it around unless I go big!”

Canada’s Matt Margett’s and Groenewoud won the Big Air hit from the Air National Guard and were awarded $2500 each.

“We didn’t have a lot of training because of the blizzard this week, so I wasn’t that confident coming into the competition today. In my first run I had a few mistakes that I wanted to clean up on the second run. Unfortunately that didn’t work out because I hit the deck and blew a binding off my ski (on my second run). But I’m okay and I’m happy,” said Groenewoud, who added that as a native of Calgary, Alberta, Sunday’s nearly 60ºF weather at Mammoth Mountain was not her friend. “It is extraordinarily hot out which is not my forte — I’m a child of the winter so it was a big challenge. I’m melting wearing a tank top and a jacket.”

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Visa U.S. Grand Prix
Mammoth Mountain, CA – Mar. 4, 2012
Ski Halfpipe

Men:

Women: