Snowboarding

U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix x 3 at Mammoth This Weekend

Editor

mammoth, grand prix, snowboarding, greg bretzMammoth Mountain, which has been suffering an unusually dry season this year will actually come to the rescue of the USSA this weekend. Two of the first three Sprint U.S Snowboarding Grand Prix events were canceled at Northstar-at-Tahoe and Breckenridge because of lack of snow and stormy conditions, respectively. Hence the USSA has decided to cram three contests into one weekend under sunny blue skies at Mammoth’s Unbound terrain park. Initial reports are that the pipe and park are the best all season, despite it being generally low tide throughout the rest of the resort. Here’s the release on the news and bounce over to MammothUnbound.com for more info on the event (including special musical performances by Danny Brown and The Faint)!

 

 

PARK CITY, UT (Jan. 13) – The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association has solidified a plan to replace both the halfpipe snowboarding and slope style snowboarding Olympic qualifying events canceled last weekend at Breckenridge. The USSA will move forward with the plan to run replacements for the third of five qualifiers this week at Mammoth Mountain, pending closure of any formal appeals to the International Ski Federation from the cancelation. The plan has approval from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association has solidified a plan to run U.S. only Olympic qualifiers to replace the halfpipe snowboarding and slope style snowboarding competitions canceled due to snow and low visibility at Breckenridge Saturday.
  • The canceled competitions were the third of five Olympic qualifiers.
  • The USSA will move forward with the plan pending closure of any outstanding formal appeals on Saturday’s FIS jury decision to the International Ski Federation. The USSA anticipates formal communication from FIS later on Monday or early Tuesday.
  • Qualification rounds were completed in both halfpipe and slope style. The FIS jury canceled the finals and the competition was not scored, as prescribed in FIS snowboarding rules.
  • Athletes do have an avenue of appeal to that decision with FIS. As a TTR World Snowboard Tour 5-Star competition, TTR officials were integrated into decision-making during the event.
  • The revised plan would be to run a U.S. only replacement for the third qualifier at Mammoth Mountain this week, prior to the already scheduled fourth and fifth qualifiers.
  • The new third qualifiers would be open to any U.S. athletes who were eligible to compete at Breckenridge. The field for the fourth and fifth qualifiers would remain as planned from the top athletes in the rankings after three events.
  • The replacement qualifier would be sanctioned only as a USSA competition, not FIS or TTR, and would not be open to foreign athletes or scored as a FIS or TTR competition.
  • The USSA will confirm the additional qualifiers immediately upon getting clearance from FIS relative to action on any appeals.

PROPOSED REVISED SCHEDULE

Sprint U.S. Grand Prix, Mammoth Mountain
Thursday, Feb. 16 – Slopestyle qualifier #3, slope style qualifier #4
Friday, Feb. 17 – Halfpipe qualifier #3, halfpipe qualifier #4
Saturday, Feb. 18 – Slopestyle qualifier #5
Sunday, Feb. 19 – Halfpipe qualifier #5; announcement of team nominations