Kelly Clark and Ayumu Hirano become the Pro Series Halfpipe Champions

Today’s Halfpipe finals rounded out the World Snowboard Tour Pro Series with Kelly Clark and Ayumu Hirano being crowned the first ever Pro Series Halfpipe Champions. After her victory at the Burton European Open in Laax, Switzerland, Kelly Clark secured herself her 8th gold medal at the US Open today and the first ever Pro Series Halfpipe Champion title. Ayumu Hirano underlined his consistent performance at the BEO with a third place today, making him the first Pro Series Halfpipe Champion. Taku Hiraoka stepped up his game and led himself to his first US Open Halfpipe victory.

An exciting week packed with world-class snowboarding and entertainment came to a close today, with the Halfpipe finals at the 33rd Burton US Open presented by MINI in Vail, Colorado. As the third and final event on the World Snowboard Tour Pro Series, the first ever Pro Series Halfpipe Champion titles were awarded. Since the Halfpipe event at the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions, only the two results from the Burton European Open presented by MINI in Laax, Switzerland and the Burton US Open presented by MINI in Vail, Colorado, were counted to determine this year’s Pro Series Halfpipe Champions.

Halfpipe riding at it’s best entertained thousands of spectators gathered at the bottom of the pipe, cheering for their favourite riders from all over the world. US Open veteran Kelly Clark (USA) put down a perfect run consisting of a Frontside Air, Backside 540 Mute, Frontside 1080 Indy, Cab 720 Mute, Crippler Stalefish and Method Air, a performance showcasing her outstanding riding, securing herself not only her 8th US Open victory but her first ever Pro Series Halfpipe Champion title. 14-year old American Chloe Kim came in second putting down her first ever landed Frontside 1080 in competition, while Arielle Gold (USA), attempting a Frontside 1080 Stalefish in her last run, rounded out the podium in third.

“It’s amazing winning the Pro Series title, it definitely showcases more of your season than just one victory. I’m always looking for the Tour title at the end of the year and I’m grateful to have captured that today at the US Open.” – Kelly Clark, Halfpipe Pro Series Champion 2015

Men’s finals were thrilling right down to the last runs, the top riders pulled out their best tricks, entertaining the crowd to a maximum. Taku Hiraoka (JPN) was able to surpass his own performance by throwing down a Frontside 540 Indy, Backside 900 Mute, Frontside Double Cork 1080 Stalefish, Cab Double Cork 1080 Mute and a Frontside 1260 Tail Grab in his second run, firing himself into the top spot of this year’s US Open. France’s Arthur Longo stepped it up in his last run, combining technical difficulty with outstanding style, finishing in second place. Ayumu Hirano (JPN) becoming third today, celebrates being crowned the first Pro Series Halfpipe Champion after his second place at the Burton European Open earlier this year.

“I am very happy to become the first ever World Snowboard Tour Halfpipe Pro Series Champion. This is a great honour.” – Ayumu Hirano, Halfpipe Pro Series Champion 2015

The World Snowboard Tour Pro Series award ceremony was held today, at the Solaris concert stage, where all four Pro Series Champions were crowned. Congratulations to Jamie Anderson and Mark McMorris, the World Snowboard Tour Slopestyle Pro Series Champions 2015, as well as Kelly Clark and Ayumu Hirano, the World Snowboard Tour Halfpipe Pro Series Champions 2015.

While the Pro Series 2014/15 is a wrap, the World Snowboard Tour continues on with the International, National and Regional Level events, all can be found on www.worldsnowboardtour.com/wst-calendar

About TTR Pro Snowboarding and the World Snowboard Tour
TTR Pro Snowboarding strives to promote competitive snowboarding in representing the interests of a professional network of events, athletes, national sport associations and industry partners. A Non-Profit organization, TTR Pro Snowboarding owns the World Snowboard Tour, the World Championships of Snowboarding in partnership with the WSF, and the widely respected global ranking system – the World Snowboarding Points Lists (WSPLs). By offering a fair, unbiased, global ranking platform, and through maintaining global competition course-build, safety and judging standards, TTR brings transparency to the sport, across the freestyle disciplines of Halfpipe, Slopestyle and Big Air. Through TTR’s four-tiered Regional to Elite level tour structure, it encourages, develops and supports rider progression from rookies to world-class athletes, where the Elite level, WST Pro Series events are the ultimate pinnacle of snowboarding.