Adaptive Snowboard World Championship 2008

On April 1st, Adaptive snowboarders from around the globe came to Copper Mountain to compete in the first ever WSF Adaptive Snowboard World Championships hosted by Adaptive Action Sports (AAS) and the United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA).

The riders couldn’t have asked for a better day to race Snowboardcross for World Championship. The competition consisted of a “sling-shot” Snowboardcross format with the fastest combined time of two runs taking home the gold. The WSF Adaptive Snowboard World Championship yielded some of today’s top talent from around the globe; including Carl Murphy from New Zealand, Tyler Mosher of Canada, Bibian Mentel of the Netherlands, and a handful of rider from the United States. The race course was very technical and pushed the limits of adaptive snowboarding to a higher level.

For the men, Rob Nelson, a rider from the US with arm paralysis, finished the day with the fastest time and took home the title of Adaptive Snowboard World Champion. Chris Brodbeck and Keith Deutsch, both from the US, took home the silver and bronze. On the women’s side, Bibian Mentel was crowned Adaptive World Champion. This was Mentel’s second 1st place finish this season, with her first being at the Adaptive Snowboard World Cup in Canada. Nicole Roundy and Amy Purdy, both from the US, took home the silver and bronze.

The WSF Adaptive Snowboard World Championships was produced by AAS and USASA. This was the second international WSF adaptive snowboard event taken place this season. The first WSF Adaptive Snowboard World Cup took place on March 14, 2008 in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Next season the WSF anticipates hosting a minimum of three international Adaptive Snowboard events.

About Adaptive Action Sports
Adaptive Action Sports is a US based nonprofit that creates opportunities for individuals with permanent physical disabilities to participate in ‘action sports’ and or the art and music scene that follows them. They provide a number of performance camps for adaptive snowboarders, skateboarders and skiers throughout the year.