Steamboat Teen Takes World Halfpipe Crown

STONEHAM, QC (Jan. 20) – A snowy Stoneham FIS Snowboard World Championships halfpipe finals saw 16 year-old Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO), U.S. Snowboard Rookie team athlete, to her first FIS World Champion title. Gold’s ability to maintain consistent amplitude and execute her tricks in difficult conditions paved the way for her win. She is the second youngest athlete to achieve the title for men and women. Next up for the FIS Snowboard World Championships are parallel giant slalom finals Sat. Jan. 25 and snowboardcross finals Sun. Jan. 26 at Stoneham.

HIGHLIGHTS

• U.S. Snowboarding rookie team athlete and FIS Junior World Champion Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, CO) won her first FIS Snowboard World Championship title at Stoneham, QC.
• Last season Gold was the silver medalist in both slopestyle and halfpipe disciplines at Youth Olympic Games at Kuehtai, Austria.
• Gold’s run: backside air, frontside 540 lien, backside 540 mute-grab, frontside 720 indy, cab 720 indy, frontside air. 
• Australia’s Holly Crawford took second with France’s Sophie Rodriguez in third.
• Kaitlyn Farrington (Sun Valley, ID) just missed the podium in fourth.
• For the men’s halfpipe finals Spencer Shaw (Stratton Mountain, VT) was the highest placing U.S. finisher in 12th.
• Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov took the men’s title.
• Next up for the FIS Snowboard World Championships are parallel giant slalmon finals Jan. 25 and snowboardcross finals Jan. 26 at Stoneham, QC.

QUOTES
Arielle Gold
Last week I was bummed coming in fourth at the Grand Prix and it seemed like I couldn’t break through to the top three, because I qualified in first. I truly, couldn’t be happier! This is such a wonderful feeling. This morning it was snowing really hard. The beginning of the day was frustrating and there was a full foot of snow in the bottom of pipe and it was so slow and sticky. It was insane. The snow was heavy and the resort did their best to keep up with the snow and keep the pipe smooth and slip it. We were all kind of struggling to stay smooth and keep our amplitude up. I tried a cab 900 in my second run to see if I could up my score, but I couldn’t put it together. Hopefully this is the beginning of my success for the season, I head to Aspen next as first alternate for X Games and I am looking forward to it.

RESULTS
Official Results

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