Australian Torah Bright ends U.S. dominance in ladies halfpipe

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WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Australian Torah Bright stood atop a 22-foot halfpipe that glittered in the lights on a relatively warm Thursday night at Cypress Mountain.

One of the world's best snowboarders had to go first in the final run of the Olympics final — moments after crashing and posting the worst score of the first go-through.

"Standing at the top I (knew) what I was going to do, so I just had to go do it," she said.

No worries, mate.

Bright nailed a big trick — a switch backside 720 — to leave two former gold medalists in her wake and end the United States' dominance in the event.

Former winners Hannah Teter of South Lake Tahoe and Kelly Clark of Mammoth Lakes simply couldn't go big enough to match Bright on a night that saw 11 of the 22 runs end in crashes. Teter won the silver, Clark the bronze to add to America's big medal count in the first week of the Winter Games.

Elena Hight of South Lake Tahoe crashed twice and finished 10th, just ahead of 2006 Olympic silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler, who also fell twice.

Bleiler, the X Games gold medal winner, has struggled with her signature move called a Cab 7 and couldn't pull it together for the Vancouver Games.

"I'm bummed, and I'm going to go home and cry," she said. "I know what I am capable of. Tonight was about getting that trick back and everything would be fine, and it almost was."

The first run of the finals looked more like a car wreck than the inspiring acrobatics of the best of snowboarding. Six riders landed badly, including medal favorites Bright, Bleiler and Clark.

The mistakes set up a dramatic final run until Bright's 45.0 score that all but put it out of reach. Teter had a 42.4, 0.2 points ahead of Clark.

"This is a really special medal for me because I worked so hard to get here," said Clark, who finished fourth in Turin after winning the gold medal in 2002.

Teter, the defending gold medalist, took the lead after the first run. But she couldn't catch Bright as the last rider to go when she tottered on a relatively easy frontside 360. Teter had no complaints after a rough practice this week.

"I fell every practice run and hit my butt super hard three times," she said. "I was happy to get that out of the way before finals. I tried to forget about the mess-ups and remember that it's just fun and games.

"I came out of jumps doing what I know how to do and just stomp it."

Bleiler agreed.

"I haven't seen her ride that well in a while," she said.

Queralt Castellet of Spain was held out of the final after crashing and fainting during a training run. Castellet, who posted the third-best score in qualifying, was OK, but taken to a hospital as a precaution, Spanish coach Dani Fernandez said.

Bright had struggled herself this season because of concussions from falling on the hard ice. She didn't bother trying to peak for the Winter X Games last month, aiming instead for the Olympics.

And then she got extra motivation Thursday when her parents provided a surprise. Bright thought they were home in Australia, but suddenly they showed up in Vancouver.

"Standing up top, I saw all my family and friends ... they were having fun," Bright said. "So I thought, I'm going to have fun."

She let it fly. And, really, life's much more fun with a gold medal in hand.