Bright wins Aussies' 1st Olympic medal in halfpipe
Whistler's Nicoll finishes 6th
Last Updated: Thursday, February 18, 2010 | 10:59 PM ET
By Dan Robson, CBC Sports
Australia's Torah Bright, centre, celebrates with Americans Kelly Clark, right, and Hannah Teter, left, after the women's snowboard halfpipe final at Cypress Mountain on Thursday. (Martin Bureau/Getty Images)Australia's Torah Bright won the gold medal in the women's snowboard halfpipe at the Vancouver Olympics on Thursday.
It is Australia's first-ever Olympic medal in the event.
American Hannah Teter, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, took the silver, while her teammate, Kelly Clark, won the bronze.
Bright scored an even 45 to secure the gold, while Teter and Kelly scored 42.4 and 42.2, respectively.
Mercedes Nicoll, the lone Canadian in the women's halfpipe final, finished sixth.
The 26-year-old from Whistler, B.C., fell on her second run in the final. Her first score of 34.4 was good enough for Canada's best finish in the event since Maelle Ricker finished fifth at the 1998 Nagano Games.
Ricker won Canada's second gold medal of the Vancouver Games, in women's snowboard cross on Tuesday.
Sarah Conrad, of Dartmouth, N.S., finished in 15th position in the qualifying round, with a top score of 31.2 after nailing back-to-back 540s on her second run.
But the 24-year-old was unable to get past the semis, finishing 12th with a score of 21.4.
Teen Taylor has promising future
Canada's Palmer Taylor finished 26th out of 30 riders in the qualifying round, and didn't qualify for the semis, but at only 17 years old, the Welland, Ont., native gained valuable Olympic experience as the future of Canada's snowboard program.
Americans Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark and Gretchen Bleiler all finished in the top six of the qualifying round to advance to the finals.
At the 2006 Games, Teter and Bleiler took gold and silver, respectively, while Clark finished fourth. At the 2002 Winter Games, Clark won the gold when she was just 18 years old.
They were heavily favoured to dominate the podium again in Vancouver.
Bright also had a bye to the finals, finishing first in the qualifying round.
The 23-year-old, who lives in Salt Lake City, fell on her first run in the finals, but rebounded in her second to put her in the top spot with a score of 45. The Aussie finished fifth at the 2006 Torino Games.
Bright watched from the bottom of the hill as the final 10 snowboarders attempted to catch up to her.
Teter had the final run, as Bright waited to see if her gold-medal score would stand. The reigning gold medallist pulled of a solid run, but could not match Bright's whose performance had been technically perfect.
