After the dramatic slopestyle finals on Friday, which saw the UK’s Jamie Nicholls secure a fifth place finish behind Mark McMorris, Torstein Horgmo, Chas Guldemond and Peetu Piiroinen, the halfpipe finals at the 2013 Burton US Open continued that excitement. Thankfully, the weather let up a bit and the heavy snow was replaced by bluebird conditions as a backdrop on what was arguably one of the best contest halfpipes ever built. Its 600ft length allowed riders to get all of their hits in AND go massive at the same time.

Shaun White was once again pretty much unstoppable in the men’s competition, landing the top five highest scoring tricks and going huge throughout. His run was the same one he put down at the recent X Games and included a ridiculous backside air, back to back 1080 double corks (frontside and cab), frontide 540 stalefish, double McTwist 1260 and frontside double cork 1260.

Impressive as it was, we’ve seen that run so many times before and we’ve totally come to expect it from Shaun. It was once again 14 year old Japanese Wunderkind Ayumu Hirano who had us picking our jaws off the floor with the sort of amplitude you’d maybe expect from someone twice his weight. Maybe. His run wasn’t as technical but his amplitude is right up there alongside Shaun’s. He only managed second on Saturday but mark our words, he’ll be on top of that podium in a couple of years time. With his second place finish, Ayumu also claimed the World Snowboard Tour halfpipe title and earned a place in history as the youngest rider ever to do so.

Louie Vito rounded out the podium in third place.

In the women’s contest it was once again Kelly Clark who took top honours with a run that included her massive frontside 1080 leading onto huge 540s and 720s – the win was her sixth at the US Open which is an unprecedented number of wins across both men and women.

(Seriously, what is up with the music in these edits? It’s too early on a Monday morning…)

Second and third place continually changed throughout the competition with Hannah Teter eventually landing in second and super-talented 16 year old Arielle Gold taking third.

Arielle also put down the highest scoring individual trick of the day with her frontside 900 mute.

All in all, Saturday’s pipe finals were a fitting end to the 2013 Burton US Open and the inaugural edition of the event in Vail. The next Burton Open event will be the High Fives in New Zealand this summer and of course we’ve still got the European X Games right around the corner.

If you missed Friday’s slopestyle comp you can catch all of the top runs here.

BURTON US OPEN HALFPIPE RESULTS

Men:

1st – Shaun White

2nd – Ayumu Hirano

3rd – Louie Vito

Women:

1st – Kelly Clark

2nd – Hannah Teter

3rd – Arielle Gold