Kelly Clark seriously dominated practice today.

The venue for the Olympic halfpipe.

Today was the first day of practice at the Olympics. The pipe is still not in perfect shape and the weather was warm, so there was quite a bit of slough in the flat bottom.

Japan's Takahara Nakai.

Team USA: Danny Kass, Shaun White and Mason Aguirre.

On the men's side, Shaun White seemed to dominate, with strong riding from the Finns Autti and Matilla. We are exactly one week away from the Halfpipe finals for men so anything can happen. It seems like a lot of riders coming into the event are hurt, but still riiding with their injuries—including Andy Finch who doesn't look like he will be able to ride in the next week.Danny Kass and Mason Aguirre both rode well and were near the front of the field. One thing is for sure- this thing is going to be a serious huckfest with ALL riders throwing 10s and Xaver Hoffman from Germany and Giacomo Kratter from Italy both working on 1260s!

The Italian Stallion himself, Giacoomo Kratter.

Team Finland will be serious contenders for the podium.

For the women, Kelly Clark was totally dominating, to the point where she rode better than some of the guys in the contest. Seriously. Ten foot plus airs all the way down the pipe and trying inverted frontside tens- holding the grab all the way around. She hasn't stomped one yet but she did land a frontside 9 holding the grab. I was truelly amazed. She did three of the best runs ever from a wooman iin the pipe- all in a row. She is serious. A serious favorite at this point at least. Dorian Vidal and Torah Bright both rode well. Hannah Teter did not ride and is suspected to be out with a injury. Gretchen Blieler was warming up with a few runs but never got coomfortable enough with the pipe to throw her regular run.

John Stouffer's BLOG:
The Olympic Halfpipe Practice
Current mood: busy

Hi again from Italy.

Just a recap for some of you new to this blog, I've been hired by NBC to work at the Olympic snowboarding events as a statistician for the on air announcers.

We got over here three days ago, and have just gotten over the jet lag. Today, the snowboard producer for NBC got the whole gang together at 9 am for a staff meeting. There were about 20 of us in the meeting and we went over some of the logistics of the next couple of days, plus schedules and some event planning. NBC is really getting behind the snowboarding events. Todd Richard is one of the announcers, and apparently he was quite the hit in a big NBC staff meeting with all the big wigs. As it turns out, the NBC halfpipe shows will be aired on prime time in the United States. This could be very cool. So basically we're going to be taping the shows live, then go back and do voice overs whereever we need to, but hopefully won't really have to.

For the men's halfpipe, NBC is going to show about an hour around 8 pm of the qualifications round, then will come back at 10 pm and show the finals. We're getting a good hour of time total, which is really great for snowboarding! We're all really excited about how much time the events will get. It should be huge for the sport.

After the meeting we went out to the venue. It0's in a town called Bardonnecchia, about 20 minutes from where we're staying. The Italian Alps here in this region are really beautiful, and the weather today was clear and warm.

Once we got to the venue, Billy Mathews, the snowboard producer, gave us a tour of the venue. Kind of a behind the scenes look at where the TV magic is made. There were people working to get everything ready for the shows, and we have a couple more days to get it all nailed down.

We grabbed some lunch at the venue, and then heard that the pipe riders were practicing, so we headed out. Todd Richards really wanted to ride, but hung at the bottom of the pipe and threw shakkas to all the riders as they went by. He also started suggesting stuff that they should do in their runs, but then told people he wouldn't coach them and backed off. The other two announcers, Pat Parnell and Tina Dixon hovered around to talk to people, and Pat had his note pad out and was grilling the US team doctor about injuries some of the riders might or might not have. He wasn't giving up anything, and was saying that the riders were all fine, but the three who are suspected to have injuries weren't riding much.

Mark Sullivan, the owner of Snowboard Mag and spotter for the NBC crew, was taking pictures and talking to everyone. Danny Kass looked smooth, Shaun White was having issues with the pipe. Mason was ripping and looked like he was having fun. Kelly Clark was going off. She actually was riding really strong. Look out.

Annti Autti was in full swing, and Frances Mattheu Crepel was spinning big, then getting coaching from the French coach after each run.

TransWorld Editor Kurt Hoy was shooting a bunch, and was stoked to be there as well. It was pretty hot actually at the bottom of the pipe, and people were enjoying the relaxed day. There were a couple of camera crews following around some of the different riders, and a couple watching the pipe, but overall it was way mellow compared to what will happen in a few days. The boardercross course is right next to the pipe, and it's not done yet, but is taking shape.

Just below the pipe is a big grand stand, and it will be very exciting to see the whole thing filled with people. The whole experience is shapping up to be a great one.

Tonight should be a mellow one, and then we're back out to the pipe for more practice tomorrow.

John