Vito, Clark Wallisch top field for Winter Dew Tour Championship

Story by Standard-Examiner staff
Standard-Examiner staff
February 3, 2012
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OGDEN — The Winter Dew Tour culminates next weekend with the Toyota Championships at Snowbasin Resort. The best winter action sports athletes will descend on the resort to battle it out for the Dew Cup in snowboarding and freeskiing superpipe and slopestyle disciplines.

With impressive crowds packing the mountain for the competitions, the 2011 Toyota Championships saw the highest attended Winter Dew Tour event on the Tour. This year, the Toyota Championships will air finals competitions live on NBC at Feb. 11 at noon MST and Feb. 12 at 1 p.m.

"We are excited to have the Winter Dew Tour back again this year and be the host of the season ending championship event, which is anticipated to bring $6 million into Utah’s economy and provide approximately $6 million in promotional value to Utah," said Jeff Robbins, president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission.

Salt Lake local Louie Vito will be coming to Snowbasin with one goal in mind — to become the first male winter sports athlete to win the Dew Cup for two consecutive years. After landing on the podium just shy of a win at the first two stops of the season, Vito will need to take the top spot in Snowbasin to claim the Cup.

He finds his most threatening competition in Iouri Podladtchikov, the winner of Killington’s Pantech Invitational and current leader in the Tour standings by a mere two points. In slopestyle there is no shortage of fresh faces and up-and-comers eager to make a name for themselves on the international stage of the Winter Dew Tour.

Sebastien Toutant’s pair of second place finishes puts him in the lead for the Dew Cup, but Gjermund Braaten, who burst onto the scene with a smooth and technical run at the Nike Open in Breckenridge, is not one to be counted out of contention.

Men’s freeski superpipe is set to be a heated competition, as the season has shown more than one athlete can have what it takes to win on any given day. Kevin Rolland has a chance to repeat his 2011 Dew Cup performance while holding a narrow lead in the Tour standings, while Torin Yater-Wallace, fresh off taking the first Dew Tour win of his pro career, can also claim the Cup if he tops the podium again.

Salt Lake City local Tom Wallisch has all but locked up the Freeski Slopestyle Dew Cup with two first place finishes this season, but hot on his heels is Nick Goepper, who has landed on the podium twice this year. A stellar run from Goepper could bring him the Cup, if Wallisch fails to meet his usual level of perfection on the course.

Kelly Clark and Gretchen Bleiler will face off in a winner-takes-all battle in the Snowbasin superpipe. Clark, the former gold medalist and reigning Dew Cup champion, has ruled the women’s snowboard contest circuit, not losing a halfpipe event since the Winter Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge in 2010.

There will be no shortage of excitement as Bleiler attempts to end Clark’s streak at the top. Spencer O’Brien blew away the competition on the slopestyle course in Breckendrige. If she is able to repeat at the Toyota Championships, she’ll walk away with the Dew Cup, which she’s had her sights on since she last won it in 2009.

For the first time in Winter Dew Tour history, the top female freeskiers will be competing for a Dew Cup. Just a few weeks ago, the ladies met at the Pantech Invitational for a glimpse of what they would be up against for the championship title.

Maddie Bowman took the top spot on the superpipe podium, but with the level of competition so close, the season title in Snowbasin is anyone’s for the taking. Kaya Turski is coming in hot to the Toyota Championships after winning at the Pantech Invitational and claiming an X Games gold medal on consecutive weekends. She’ll be fighting off Devin Logan and Emilia Wint for the first women’s Freeski Slopestyle Dew Cup.

In addition to the exciting competition throughout the weekend, the Winter Dew Tour will host a FREE Mac Miller concert on historic 25th Street in downtown Ogden on Feb. 10, at 9 p.m.

Mac Miller grew up in Pittsburgh with a musical aptitude that already far surpasses most other hip-hop lyricists. His August 2011 debut "K.I.D.S." took the music industry by storm, earning critical acclaim from well-respected hip-hop magazines and websites. Mac’s upbeat rhymes are sure to hype the Winter Dew Tour crowd for a weekend full of non-stop action.


The full schedule of events for the Toyota Championships

Thursday, Feb. 9


Festival Village opens at 9 a.m.

8 a.m. – 4 p.m. Practice for all disciplines


Friday, Feb. 10


Festival Village opens at 9 a.m.

10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Semi-Final

11 a.m. – noon Women’s Freeski Superpipe Semi-Final

11:30 a.m. – 1:50 p.m. Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Semi-Final

Noon – 1:30 p.m. Men’s Freeski Superpipe Semi-Final

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Gatorade Free Flow Tour - Men’s Freeski Slopestyle Final

4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Semi-Final

5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Men’s Snowboard Superpipe Semi-Final

9 p.m. – 11 p.m. Mac Miller Concert


Saturday, Feb. 11


Festival Village opens at 9 a.m.

9 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Women’s Freeski Slopestyle Semi-Final

10:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Men’s Freeski Slopestyle Semi-Final

11 a.m. – 11:40 a.m. Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Final

Noon – 1:30 p.m. Men’s Snowboard Superpipe Final

2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Gatorade Free Flow Tour – Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Gatorade Free Flow Tour – Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final

5 p.m. – 5:40 p.m. Women’s Freeski Superpipe Final

6 p.m. – 7 p.m. Men’s Freeski Superpipe Final


Sunday, Feb. 12


Festival Village opens at 9 a.m.

9 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final

10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final

Noon – 12:40 p.m. Women’s Freeski Slopestyle Final

1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Men’s Freeski Slopestyle Final

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Dew Cup Awards

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Gatorade Free Flow Tour – Women’s Snowboard Superpipe Final

4 p.m. – 5 p.m. Gatorade Free Flow Tour – Men’s Snowboard Superpipe Final

5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Gatorade Free Flow Tour – Men’s Freeski Superpipe Final

For information, visit www.Allisports.com and the Dew Tour Facebook page

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