The 26th annual Burton U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships were held March 17-23 at Stratton Mountain Resort. The US Open is the final stop on the Burton Global Series and the spot where the best male and female riders are crowned, as determined by their best 5 results in the previous stops. This year Peetu Piiroinen of Finland and Torah Bright of Australia each took home the crown along with a cash purse of $100,000.

In case you didn’t catch the worlds best riders compete for the largest single payout in pro snowboarding last week, ESPN put together a highlight video for you with interviews and footage. Check out the video below and the results from the 2008 U.S. Open.

Men’s Slopestyle Results

1st Place: Shaun White

2nd Place: Tim Humphreys

3rd Place: Charles Reid

Women’s Slopestyle Results

1st Place: Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas

2nd Place: Jamie Anderson

3rd Place: Jenny Jones

Men’s Halfpipe Results

1st Place: Shaun White

2nd Place: Mason Aguirre

3rd Place: Kevin Pearce

Women’s Halfpipe Results

1st Place: Torah Bright

2nd Place: Kelly Clark

3rd Place: Gretchen Bleiler

Men’s Big Air Results

1st Place: Tim Humphreys

Women’s Big Air Results

1st Place: Cheryl Maas

At age three, Lindsey Vonn put on a pair of skis at a local mountain in Minnesota for the first time and she has been making a name for herself ever since as an elite member of the U.S. Ski Team. 

She  began racing at age seven and by nine she was competiting in international events. At the age of 14 she became the only American female to win the Trofeo Topolino contest in Italy. In her first year of top-level competition, 15-year-old Vonn placed in numerous NorAm events. At the age of 18, Vonn raced in both slalom and combined in her Olympic debut, with her best result placing her sixth in slalom.

Vonn climbed up onto the World Cup podium for the first time in her career at the age of 20. A year later she attended the World Championships in Italy, taking fourth place finishes in both downhill and combined and a ninth place finish in Super G.  She finished the season ranked sixth overall in the world.

At age 22, Vonn was set to compete in her second Olympic Games as a top hopeful for the Women’s U.S. Ski Team. Unfortunately, this would not be her year. During a training session, Vonn crashed and was evacuated by helicopter to a local hospital. Vonn returned to the Games, despite a bruised hip, and finished eighth in Downhill, seventh in Super G, and fourteenth in Slalom.

Later that year, Vonn won silver in both downhill and Super G at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Are, Sweden.  She also finished third in the women’s 2007 World Cup Downhill and Super G before a knee injury ended her season early.

This past season, 23-year-old Vonn returned to the slopes ready to make history and that is exactly what she did. Her latest Downhill win in Crans-Montana, Switzerland last Saturday, made her the most succesful American in Downhill history and set a new record for World Cup Downhill victories by a U.S. skier with ten. The previous record was held by Picabo Street in 1996 and Daron Rahives in 2006.

Furthermore, Vonn just recently captured the overall World Cup title in Bormio, Italy. Fellow American, Bode Miller, took the title for the men. The last time American’s won both the men’s and women’s overall titles in the same year was in 1983.

It was a very successful season for Vonn and we should expect to see many more victories and possibly some more historical moments as she continues to represent the U.S. Ski Team.

For more information about Lindsay Vonn check out the Official Lindsay Vonn Website.

World-class athlete, Shaun White, put on a world-class performance in last night’s Snowboard SuperPipe Men’s Final to close out Winter X Games 12 in true X style. Despite the snow storm that moved into Aspen during the competition which slowed down riders and lessened their visibility, White still found a way to throw down one of the best runs in X Games history to win the gold with a score of 96.66.

White’s final run included a huge Lean Air, a flawless McTwist, a clean Frontside 1080 into a Fakey to Forward 1080, Front and Backside 900s, and – to finish it off – a Frontside 1260 at the bottom of the pipe. In true X games fashion, White went bigger than ever before by ending his run with an improbable 1260. White admitted later that he had been practicing the four spins since last season and knew he was ready to throw it down for the fans.

White’s gold medal in last night’s SuperPipe tied him up with Tanner Hall, one of the most influential skiers of his generation from Kalispell, Montana, with seven first place finishes at the X games.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

Snowboard SuperPipe Men's Final

Winter X Games 12

Aspen/Snowmass, Colo. - Jan. 27, 2008

Name / Bib # / Hometown / Score

1. Shaun White / 347 / Carlsbad, Calif. / 96.66

2. Ryo Aono / 324 / Matsuyama City, Japan / 88.00

3. Kevin Pearce / 343 / Norwich, Vt. / 85.66

4. Mason Aguirre / 300 / Mammoth, Calif. / 84.33

5. Kazuhiro Kokubo / 377 / Sapporo, Japan / 83.00

6. Antti Autti / 329 / Rovaniemi, Finland / 82.00

7. Danny Kass / 337 / Portland, Ore. / 81.00

8. Iouri Podladtchikov / 384 / Zurich, Switzerland / 73.66

9. Gary Zebrowski / 388 / Papeete, Tahiti / 65.00

10. Elijah Teter / 385 / Belmont, Vt. / 52.33