Kelly Clark News

Past the Ms. Pac-Man game in the entry is a wall-size case stuffed with trophies, presidential proclamations and the snowboard used to win the women's halfpipe competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

New Zealand's Winter Olympics team will be announced in mid-January, less than one month before the team competes in the Vancouver event from February 12-28. A large group of Otago-based snowboarders and freeskiers are in the United States, aiming to qualify.

Seven years after he won the gold medal in the Olympic halfpipe, Ross Powers has taken a key step toward qualifying for the Vancouver Games in snowboardcross.

The Dew Tour is downright democratic compared to the X Games and other invitational pro snowboarding events: Any Fred Shred or Insane Jane who fights their way through the Open Qualifiers gets to throw down in Prelims, against the likes of Shaun White and Kelly Clark .

Danny Davis qualified 4th on Friday, and will compete in Saturday's final round in this year's first stop of the Grand Prix.

Olympic Champions Shaun White and Kelly Clark were killing it as usual Saturday, as they landed runs to finish first at the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix - the first of five Olympic qualification events.

Women's Final 1. Kelly Clark, USA, 44.5 2. Gretchen Bleiler, USA, 42.6 3. Soko Yamaoka, JPN, 40.2 4. Quera Castellet, SPA, 39.5 5. Ellery Hollingsworth, USA, 35.8 6. Madeline Schaffrick, USA, 35.5 7. Holly Crawford, AUS, 24 8. Clair Bidez, USA, 13.6 COPPER M0UNTAIN - Kelly Clark said she has her sights on the bigger picture.

Assocaited Press Shaun White flies through the air during his first run of the men's halfpipe snowboarding competition at the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Copper Mountain, Colo., on Saturday.

His signature red hair poking out from his helmet, Shaun White reached the bottom of a typically brilliant trip down the halfpipe, thrust his hands in the air and tilted his head back.

Normally, nerves are something heavily associated with the first competition of the season, especially when Olympic qualifying points are on the line.

Bleiler, Clark finish 1-2 in halfpipe qualifying Eds: APNewsNow. COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo.

Can't make it to the Olympics in Vancouver this February? This week the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix drops in on the superpipe at Copper Mountain, and all of the Olympic contenders for Team USA -- including 2006 gold medalists Shaun White and Kelly Clark -- will be there, as will a posse of Colorado's top local challengers.

For the country's best halfpipe riders, the journey to the Olympics officially begins this weekend.

The U.S. Snowboarding Team will take a break from its training at Copper Mountain Ski Resort to sign autographs for fans on Saturday at the Woodward at Copper Cage from noon to 1 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

It isn't hard to pick Shaun White out from the small coterie of pro-snowboarders being ushered through the entrance of Burton's flagship SoHo outlet in New York.

With less than six months until the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, snowboarding became the first Olympic sport to hold a major international competition this season.

Kelly Clark catches air, and her board, during her winning run at last Januarya s Dew Tour halfpipe final.

A Portland attorney who has filed multi-million dollar lawsuits over the years on behalf of hundreds of adults who claimed they were sexually abused as children said Sunday night he plans to file similar lawsuits Monday morning in three states.

In 2002, Kelly Clark - then 18 years old - became the first American Olympic champion of the Salt Lake Games when she won gold in women's halfpipe... In the aftermath of Salt Lake, she struggled under the weight of being Olympic champion, but returned and nearly won a medal on an inspired final run in Torino... The 26-year-old is making her third ...

"You the man." "No, you the man." Frank 151's Craig Wetherby pointing fingers with Shaun White.