Race to the Cup filled up with top riders
Schaffrick makes finals of Grand Prix in Copper
Steamboat Springs snowboarder Maddy Schaffrick got her season off to a scintillating start Thursday at the first U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Copper Mountain.
Schaffrick, 15, made it though the preliminaries and into Saturday’s finals.
The Grand Prix on Thursday, the first of five to determine the Olympic teams, featured some of the top competitors in the United States and around the world.
Schaffrick completed a backside alley oop 360, switch backside 540, a switch inverted 720 and a frontside 540 to make the finals.
It was the alley oop 360 that set her run apart. In the trick, Schaffrick rotates uphill and opposite the direction she travels.
“It’s no surprise that Maddy is here,” said Bud Keene, a coach for the U.S. Snowboarding Team. “Maddy is one of the best riders in the U.S. and therefore the world. She’s young, and she’s amazing. She had one of the most progressive runs – if not the most progressive.”
The men’s preliminaries begin today.
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