Gold Rush Starts in Colorado

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Colorado Resorts to Host Olympic Qualifiers, Athlete Training Events.

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October 21 2009 | 37 views

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Wescott Leads Opening Olympic Qualifier

US Snowboarding has a strong showing in first Olympic Qualifier. Check out the results!

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September 14 2009 | 10 views

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US SBX Gears Up For First World Cup

The first SBX Olympic qualifying events are on tap this weekend in South America. Check out what is good with team USA.

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September 09 2009 | 30 views

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Watanabe Facebooks From Afghanistan

While visiting troops in Afghanistan, Graham Watanabe had the chance to sit down and get his facebook on and tell people back in the states about his experience. Check out what he had to say!

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June 25 2009 | 23 views | 1 comment

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U.S. Snowboarding’s Watanabe Ships Off To Afghanistan

U.S. Snowboarding’s Graham Watanabe will take a trip to visit the U.S. Troops and help lift the spirits of those stationed overseas while on a goodwill tour of Afghanistan. Check it out!

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US Snowboarding SBX Hits the Snow at Hood

With the first of five Olympic qualification events only three months away, U.S. Snowboarding’s snowboardcross athletes head to Timberline at Mt. Hood this week to lay the foundation for success in 2010.

“The first Olympic qualifying event will be in September and when we get there, everyone needs to be on their game,” U.S. Snowboarding Head Coach Peter Foley said. “With this camp we’re hoping to be able to up the level of everyone’s skills. We want them to get really familiar with all the movements, the jumps and timing so that when they go to the qualifying event they feel like they have some stuff under their belt and confidence in what they are doing.”

With up to four spots open on the men’s Olympic team and the most talented men’s lineup in U.S. SBX history, the likes of Olympic champion Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME), five-time X Games gold medalist Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA), World Championship bronze medalist Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, MI),World Cup winner Graham Watanabe (Sun Valley, ID), World Cup podium performer Jonathan Cheever (Saugus, MA) Olympic halfpipe gold medalist Ross Powers (Londonderry, VT) and snowboarding legend Shaun Palmer (South Lake Tahoe, CA) will all be preparing themselves for the battle of their lives to reach their Olympic dreams.

Adding to the pack is Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT), who will be gearing up for the long haul to Vancouver.

According to Watanabe, who has been training at the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association’s newly opened Center of Excellence, he’s looking to put in some time getting accustomed to being back on a board following his summer break.

“It’s a foundation. I’m not looking to reach goals, I’m just looking to get my board legs under me and reach some of those muscles that you can’t really train unless your ride. I want to get those firing and get some time on the board,” Watanabe said.

For the camp, the crew at Timberline has played an integral role in providing the athletes with a set up tailored for their preparation as the resort has carved out prime real estate for the SBX course to be constructed. “Timberline has been super helpful. The place where we are putting the course is right down the main run and it is ideal terrain. It’s sweet that they are letting us build a course there,” Foley said. For Foley, the key to preparing the athletes for the season ahead is building a setup that provides them with the ability to fine tune the skills before working in the speed. “We’re trying to build some start sequences that are similar to what Jeff Ihaksi, the Olympic course builder, has been building,” Foley said. “There’s also a bunch of terrain, but we’re keeping the speeds down so the athletes can really concentrate on working the terrain and the different skills involved in that. It’s good to focus on how to execute the features really well without having to lay everything on the line.” It won’t be all on-snow work, though, as the athletes will spend time dryland training, working out the details of their summer training program, and having a little fun on wheels and in the water. “We’re going to be doing a lot of mountain biking and a lot of dryland stuff. We want to get people situated with their programs. We want to get everyone lined up down to the details. We’ll also try to get some fun stuff in like kite surfing,” Foley said. One athlete in particular is looking to his time on a mountain bike for the benefits it will provide his riding. “For me that type of training is really big. One of my goals for the past few years has been to scare myself on a regular basis and pushing my limits on a bike is great for that,” Watanabe said. “I’ve been doing more dirt jumping. I feel like it helps my SBX because it’s a similar element of matching transitions and understanding what speeds you have.” The crew heads to Mt. Hood on the 7th for two weeks of on-snow preparation before launching into summer-long fitness programs in the lead up to the 2010 season.

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June 10 2009 | 20 views

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Watanabe Wins in Sunday River SBX

SUNDAY RIVER, ME (Feb. 28) - The USA made its mark on the men’s podium as Graham Watanabe (Sun Valley, ID) won and 2002 Olympic gold medalist Ross Powers (Londonderry, VT) finished third in snowboardcross at the 2009 Visa U.S. Snowboarding Cup Saturday at Sunday River Resort in Maine.

“This was so ideal I couldn’t have written it any better,” Watanabe said. “This is a fairytale ending to a pretty darn good season.”

It was the only win this season for Watanabe who arranged to take the rest of the competition schedule off in order to prepare for Olympic qualification in 2010. However, while the win is an amazing finale to his season, Watanabe said he didn’t see it coming,

“I am pretty surprised right now. I have not run this course well since we got here. I qualified 22nd. But it all fell into place and it was meant to be,” Watanabe said.

With a second-place finish at the Visa Snowboardcross Championship Series stop at Boreal Resort in California as well as Saturday’s win, Watanabe solidified his spot as the national champion, for which he will be awarded the coveted green champion’s jacket.

“I cannot tell you how psyched I am for that. I have been itching for it,” Watanabe said. “The year that I lost my national title is the year that they started giving out the green jacket, so I am dying to throw that on my shoulders.”

Joining Watanabe on the podium was Powers, who led the historic U.S. sweep of the men’s halfpipe podium at the 2002 Olympics. It was the first snowboardcross World Cup competition of Powers’ storied career as well as his first SBX podium.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more today. To get on the podium in my first World Cup, I am so excited,” Powers said.

Powers recently began competing in snowboardcross and had to work his way up to the World Cup level.

“The main thing was focusing on snowboardcross this year. I had to start at the NorAm level to earn points and then on to the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix went pretty well. I’ve left my freestyle board at home and focused on it,” Powers said. “The U.S. guys have all been helping me out and letting me follow them. Since Graham is going to take a little bit of a break, I get to go on to the next World Cups. I made my plane ticket through the finals in Italy and I had to get into the top 50 before then, so this should help me out.”

According to Watanabe, racing with and being on the podium alongside Powers was a privilege.

“It’s just crazy to me. This is a guy who you see on TV and you don’t think much more of it than that because he is a professional snowboarder,” Watanabe said. “And then you see him next to you in the gate and to see him succeed on so many different platforms in snowboarding is impressive and it’s such an honor to be riding next to that.”

Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) led the way for the U.S. women, finishing fourth after a challenging course feature slowed her down in the finals.

“Right off the bat I went horribly wrong off the first feature and I was chasing after the girls the rest of the way down. I was just grunting my teeth and trying to make aggressive moves,” Jacobellis said. “Mellie [Francon, Switzerland] and I just kept clicking each other and then I backed off. It’s not worth getting hurt because I was all over the place. I don’t need to take out another rider because I respect these women. It wasn’t my day, it was Maelle’s [Ricker, Canada].”

However, with her win from Boreal, Jacobellis came away with the national title.

“It definitely feels good to have the national championship and to still be leading in the points,” Jacobellis said.

The Paul Mitchell Team SBX was slated to follow the World Cup, however, due to timing problems with the start gates the event was canceled.

“Due to the start gate malfunction it was impossible to provide a fair competition and we made a joint decision to cancel the event,” USSA Vice President of Events Calum Clark said. “It’s unfortunate that we had to cut such an exciting event, but the World Cup was a success and we are happy with that.”

The Visa U.S. Snowboarding Cup is now concluded, but the action will live again on TV with NBC broadcasting the event March 7 at 2 p.m. ET and Versus will re-air it at 5 p.m. ET the same day.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
LG FIS SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP
VISA U.S. SNOWBOARDING CUP
Sunday River, ME - Feb. 28, 2009
Snowboardcross

Men
1. Graham Watanabe, Sun Valley, ID
2. Lukas Gruener, Austria
3. Ross Powers, Londonderry, VT
4. Robert Fagan, Canada
5. David Speiser, Germany
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7. Seth Wescott, Sugarloaf, ME
8. Robert Minghini, South Lake Tahoe, CA
11. Nick Baumgartner, Iron River, MI
12. Jason Smith, Basalt, CO
15. Jayson Hale, Sierraville, CA
18. Jonathan Cheever, Saugus, MA
20. Alex Deibold, Manchester Center, VT
21. Nate Holland, Squaw Valley, CA
23. Shaun Palmer, South Lake Tahoe, CA
27. Pat Holland, Squaw Valley, CA
29. Chelone Miller, Franconia, NH

Women
1. Maelle Ricker, Canada
2. Helene Olafsen, Norway
3. Mellie Francon, Switzerland
4. Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton Mountain, VT
5. Zoe Gillings, Great Britain
-
13. Marni Yamada, Seattle, WA
# # #

For complete results click here.