Vito Places 2nd at Australian Open
Perisher, NSW (Sunday August 26, 2007) - - It was an epic day at Perisher Blue, Australia for the final day of the Australian Open for Professional Snowboarders. Over 150 competitors from 14 countries competed for the gold in the Super Pipe finals but in the end it was a battle between several Olympians and one up and comer. New Zealand Olympian Mitch Brown sat in the second slot after the first round while local resident Louie Vito had some bad luck during his first of two runs and found himself sitting near the bottom of the standings. Vito had one chance to redeem himself after falling on his first run. And redeem himself he did, the 19 year-old American snowboarding sensation put together a killer second run that started with a front 10, followed by a Cab 7, into a front 9 tail grab, frontside ally-oop 360 and finished with an ally-oop rodeo 360. That run vaulted Vito into second place, knocking Brown down to third. But it was U.S. Olympian Andy Finch’s day to shine as he boosted some huge tricks for the best run of the day to win the Open.
"The Perisher crew did an incredible job building the Pipe which made us go for the big moves.” Vito said while celebrating on the podium. “We pushed each other today and that's what it's all about - going harder and higher for the win - I've had a great time here and give full credit to the Australian's for putting on such an incredible event."
Final Top Five Super Pipe Standings
1. Finch Andy (USA)
2. Louie Vito (USA)
3. Mitchell Brown (New Zealand)
4. Torstein Horgmo (Norway)
5. Kazuhiro Kokubo (Japan)
The Australian Open offered $70,000 in prize money over two days across Open Men and Open Women in the disciplines of Slope Style and Super Pipe and was one of the biggest Snowboarding Events in Australia.
posted by Team Vito Staff at 7:52 PM
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