A light snowfall accompanied the first of two Halfpipe competitions of the Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup on Whistler's Blackcomb Mountain. US rider Tommy Czeschin and Austrian Nicola Pederzolli took the wins, though the Canadians held their ground to take seven top-10 finishes.

"I am very excited about the strong performances from our Canadian athletes," said Adam Faithfull, President of the Canadian Snowboard Federation (CSF). Vancouver's Natasza Zurek was in her usual excellent form, showing her dominance over the other competitors, and Quebec's Guillaume [Morisset] is one step closer to locking in a spot to the Olympics with his third place finish."

"This is great," said Morisset after his final run. "I needed a good result to get a safe spot within the Olympic team and this helps me a lot to get there. I had some good results also last year and got some as well already this year so I should be pretty safe. I went into the competition and just tried to give my best. I was not going safe but attacked it- you can't make it with a safe run in a contest anymore, everybody pushes themselves so hard so you have to put everything into it."

Quebec's David Melancon and Daniel Migneault finished 5th and 9th, respectively, qualifying them for a chance to fill one of the remaining three Olympic positions available to Canadian Halfpipe riders.

The competition sites on Blackcomb Mountain have received over 3 feet of snow in the past week, making for epic riding conditions. Over 200 of the world's best snowboarders from over 21 countries have arrived in Whistler to compete in yesterday's Audi Snowboard-Cross, two Halfpipe events, Bell Mobility Parallel Giant Slalom, and Big Air presented by West 49 and XFM.

The Whistler event is number five on the 15-stop Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup tour presented by D2 Vodafone and Grundig, and boasts the largest prize purse of any North American stop on the tour with $200,000 being awarded. Additional importance will be placed on the Whistler event as athletes begin the final countdown to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and national teams finalize their Olympic representatives. Watch for top Canadian riders to compete in tomorrow's second Halfpipe competition, including Mike Michalchuk, James Beach, Trevor Andrew, Daniel Migneault David Melancon and Natasza Zurek.

— Courtesy, Whistler Media