Eliassen Repeats X-Games Gold

J Dogg — Thu, 2 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Rating

The weather slowed down the Winter X Games 10 Skiing SuperPipe Women's competition, but it wasn't enough to slow down Grete Eliassen. With snow beating down on Buttermilk Mountain at Aspen/Snowmass, 10 finalists participated in a thirty minute jam session to determine the winner of Skiing SuperPipe Women's. For the second year in a row, Eliasson (Lillehammer, Norway) edged out Sarah Burke (Squamish, B.C., Canada) to secure the top spot on the podium. It is her second Winter X Games medal in two appearances. Eilassen started her run big, with a 15 foot mute grab on her first hit and then threw in big tricks including an alley-oop 540.

"There was a lot of pressure because I won last year," Eliasson said. "I just had to keep my head and keep my level of competition up. I was really trying to go as big as I could." Burke, who beat the elements to land a corked 900 on the way to her second silver medal in two years at Winter X Games, felt the elements played a big role in the competition, but was still pleased with her result. "I didn't get the run I was looking for," Burke said. "It just came down to how slow it was because of the weather. But obviously I'm happy to be here at the X Games and in second place."

Marie Martinod-Routin (Aix Les Bains, France) improved on her fifth place showing at Winter X Games Nine to grab the bronze ahead of fourth place finisher Kristi Leskinen (Uniontown, Pa.). "The pipe was great," Martinod-Routin said. "It was the longest I've ever skied, which helped me get more speed even with the adverse weather. I have a bunch of new tricks that I still need to perfect, but I have a lot of good years ahead of me."

In the Mens competition, X-Games ringer Tanner Hall grabbed a gold medal for his collection, with Laurent Favre and Simon Dumont rounding out the podium.

SKIING SUPERPIPE WOMEN'S

1. Grete Eliassen 524 Lillehammer, Norway 10.00
2. Sarah Burke 525 Squamish, BC, Canada 9.00
3. Marie Martinod-Routin 527 Aix Les Bains, France 8.00
4. Kristi Leskinen 526 Uniontown, Pa. 7.00
5. Jess Cumming 532 Wilton, Conn. 6.00
6. Michelle Parker 542 Squaw Valley, Calif. 5.00
7. Ashley Saba 533 Waterville Valley, N.H. 4.00
8. Virginie Faivre 528 Montreux Beach, Switzerland 3.00
9. Jen Hudak 529 Park City, Utah 2.00
10. Gina Gmeiner 531 Steamboat Springs, Colo. 1.00

SKIING SUPERPIPE MEN'S

1. Tanner Hall 550 Park City, Utah 92.66
2. Laurent Favre 510 La Clusaz, France 91.00
3. Simon Dumont 552 Bethel, Maine 90.00
4. Loic Collomb-Patton 543 La Clusaz, France 84.66
5. Andreas Hatveit 541 Sudndalen, Norway 81.33
6. J.P. Solberg 542 Waterville Valley, N.H. 80.00
7. Peter Olenick 506 Carbondale, Colo. 79.33

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Eliassen Repeats X-Games Gold