U.S. Snowboarders Conquer Early Season Jitters at Grand Prix
Four U.S. Snowboard Team Athletes overcame early-season nerves and rode their way into the final round of the Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colo. on Thursday. Maddie Mastro led the way, and qualified first for the women.
“I’m pretty happy and it feels good to lay two runs down at the first contest of the year,” said Maddie. “There is a lot of anticipation and nerves that build up throughout the off-season, but finally, things are moving and it feels great. We had a great set of training camps leading into the grand prix and I feel that work paid off today with some fresh snow causing some challenging conditions.”
For the men, Toby Miller arrived at the pipe with his standard smile and a positive attitude, and laced his first run to secure his position in finals. Toby would finish fourth in the qualifying round of grand prix competition.
“The conditions out here today were definitely a little challenging, but luckily the pipe is amazing, which made things a bit easier, Toby commented. “We had some fresh snow, but it’s an outdoor sport, so what can you expect? I wanted to put down my first run and was incredibly excited to be able to do that. I was definitely was a little nervous coming into this contest with it being the first of the season. When I landed my run, I saw I was sitting pretty high coming into my final run and knew I was dropping late in the start order, so I decided to keep it safe on my second run, get down the pipe, and save my energy for Saturday.”
Teammate Chase Josey also had a successful day, putting down his first run complete with multiple switch hits to comfortably secure his spot in finals and finish seventh. Also, Chase Blackwell landed in an impressive first run to lock down ninth place. Toby could not say enough about the level of riding from his U.S. Snowboard compatriots.
“I really enjoyed watching my teammates today, said Toby, “Especially Chase Blackwell, his first run was incredible, and I would have loved to see him land that second run because I’m sure the score would have been through the roof. Unfortunately, he didn’t, but that’s part of the game. Chase Josey, Taylor Gold, and Ryan Wachendorfer all were out there ripping out there and it was amazing to watch."
Although he didn’t make it to finals, Lucas Foster had a successful day progressing his riding in the pipe.
“I feel great, Lucas said reflecting on his day. “I landed a lot of new tricks I have never done in a contest and I made it out safe, so I can’t really complain. I’m excited to get on to the next contest and watch all my teammates kill it in finals. Moving forward, I plan on competing at the Rev Tour next week and then we have the Laax open.”
Toby, Chase J., Chase B., and Maddie are set to compete in Saturday’s Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix Finals. Come see the action live at Copper Mountain, Colo. or tune in on NBC to see the action live.
RESULTS
Women’s snowboard halfpipe
Men’s snowboard halfpipe
START LISTS
Women’s snowboard halfpipe
Men’s snowboard halfpipe
LAND ROVER U.S. GRAND PRIX - COPPER MOUNTAIN
Event Schedule
*Subject to change
Dec. 13: Freeski Halfpipe Finals
Dec. 14: Snowboard Halfpipe Finals
HOW TO WATCH
Subject to change
All times EST
*Delayed broadcast
FREESKI
December 13, 2019
1:30 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBCSN, NBCSN.com, and NBC Sports Gold.
December 21, 2019
4:00 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC*
SNOWBOARD
December 14, 2019
2:30 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBCSN, NBCSN.com, and NBC Sports Gold.
December 21, 2019
4:00 p.m. - Land Rover U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC*
All streams will be available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Gold and OlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports and Olympic Channel app are available on the Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.
