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TIGNES, France (March 11) – U.S. Snowboarding rookie rider Kaitlyn Farrington (Sun Valley, ID) kicked off the inaugural Winter X Games Europe in a big way Thursday, beating out Olympic gold medalist Torah Bright of Australia for the first X Games win of her young career.
"All I can say is I can't believe it! Defiantly unexpected, I came to France to have a fun vacation pretty much and the last thing I thought is that I would leave with a gold medal! Its icing on the cake to a great season," Farrington said.
Farrington, a three time Winter X Games competitor in the states led a field of six women, four of whom were Olympians, in which she went head-to-head for the title with Bright. The winning run was back 5, straight air, backside 9, front 7, to cab 7.
"I was already psyched after all my runs because I knew, regardless, I was going to be on the podium with Torah," Farrington said of watching Torah take her last run that would decide the champion.
In the lead after her first run, Farrington had to bump up her difficulty with a backside 900 in run two when Torah Bright took the lead. Bright’s third run was her best with a combination of tricks that included a backside and frontside 540, backside air and frontside 720.
"X Games is such a huge event to action sports and to have it in France only enhances the culture of action sports on a whole," Bright said of Winter Games coming to Europe. "That is why I am here to support the first ever Winter X Games Europe – it is history in the making."
Men's halfpipe will go off Friday in France.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 Winter X Games Europe
Tignes, France - March 11, 2010
Women's Halfpipe
1. Kaitlyn Farrington, Sun Valley, ID, 97.00
2. Torah Bright, Australia, 95.00
3. Sophie Rodriguez, France, 87.00
4. Mercedes Nicoll, Canada, 82.33
5. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 79.00
6. Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas, Norway, 78.66
