Another halfpipe win gives Kelly Clark another shot at Olympic gold

Clark wins again, secures spot on US Olympic team

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. — Kelly Clark already has an Olympic gold medal sitting back home, and now she knows, for sure, she’ll get a chance at another.

The 2002 Olympic champion secured her spot on the U.S. Olympic team Wednesday by winning her second halfpipe Grand Prix event of the season.

Clark defeated 2006 gold medal winner Hannah Teter to make her 2 for 2 this season in the Grand Prix, which is being used to determine the riders who will represent the U.S. in Vancouver next month.

“Before the last Olympics, I qualified last,” Clark said of the 2006 effort, where she was a late qualifier and finished fourth at the Games. “So, yeah, this feels really good. It gives me a chance to use the rest of the season to work on things, practice my harder jumps in competition.”

There are three more Olympic qualifiers this month, starting Friday with another event at Mammoth Mountain. The team will be selected at the end of January.

Danny Davis defeated 2006 gold medalist Shaun White on the men’s side, with Scotty Lago coming in third. Davis and Lago are good friends with Kevin Pearce, who was injured during training last week. Pearce, in a Salt Lake City hospital with a head injury, was upgraded from critical to serious condition Wednesday and was slowly regaining consciousness.

Clark said Pearce was on everyone’s mind at the event.

“I’ve been snowboarding for 18 years and had never seen anything like that, and never want to see anything like that again,” she said. “We just keep praying a lot and hoping he’s staying strong.”

White won the first qualifying event, last month in Colorado, and along with Davis, is in good position to make the U.S. team.