Winter Dew Tour: Bowman, Yater-Wallace take pipe wins, honor Burke

The halfpipe skiers had a lot to ride for today (Jan. 21) at the second stop of the 2012 Winter Dew Tour in Killington, Vermont. The world’s best halfpipe skiers were not only skiing for medals and prize money but in the memory of their friend and of one of the sport’s greatest champions, Sarah Burke.

Today’s competition began with a tribute to Burke, who died Thursday in a Utah hospital from injuries sustained nine days earlier in a halfpipe training accident. All the female skiers competed for Burke.

The women’s win went to Maddie Bowman with her second-run score of 87.50. She went all the way from last to first place with a solid run that included a 900, 540 and 720. Devin Logan took the silver medal ahead of Brita Sigourney in third.

“Yesterday was really hard for a lot of the girls and it was nice because we talked at the top,” Bowman said. “She was a friend, an idol and she was so kind-hearted. It was hard, but we’re all skiing for Sarah. Always. She’ll never be forgotten for us.”

The men’s finals went down under the lights as the youngest guy in the field, 16-year-old Torin Yater-Wallace came through in a big way with his first-run score of 90.25 that gave him the lead at Saturday’s evening competition. Looking flawless and skiing with complete control and ease, he managed to increase his lead in his second run to win with a score of 93.75.

“I landed the run that I’ve been practicing on my first run, and it couldn’t have gone better,” Torin said. “So I was stoked and I wasn’t nervous on my next run so I just sent it. I just went a little bigger, got bigger grabs and instead of switch 7 I went switch 9. So I ended up stomping it and I’ve never done a switch 9, so luckily I landed it.”

Tai Barrymore took the silver medal with a score of 88.50. Tucker Perkins rounded out the podium in third place with 85.75 points.

Image by Alli Sports

SKI SUPERPIPE FINALS
1     Torin Yater-Wallace     93.75
2     Tai Barrymore     88.50
3     Tucker Perkins     85.75
4     Justin Dorey     83.00
5     Kevin Rolland     80.50
6     David Wise     78.75
7     Joss Christensen     77.38
8     Duncan Adams     76.75
9     Taylor Seaton     76.50
10     Gus Kenworthy     76.00
11     Noah Bowman     73.25
12     Xavier Bertoni     46.25

SKI SUPERPIPE WOMEN FINALS
1     Maddie Bowman     87.50
2     Devin Logan     86.00
3     Brita Sigourney     85.00
4     Annalisa Drew     75.25
5     Anais Caradeux     73.25
6     Ayana Onozuka     72.75