Shelly Gotlieb Takes 2nd in the Slopestyle at US Burton Open

Comment Share Posted on Saturday March 20th at 11:53 a.m. Tweet

Ohakune’s Shelly Gotlieb stomped her final run at the biggest open snowboarding event in the world, the U.S. Burton Open, taking second in the women’s slopestyle.

Under blue skies and with perfect spring conditions, Gotlieb has realised her goal of a podium at the longest running and most prestigious Open event in snowboarding.

Gotlieb struggled on her first and second runs and was sitting in 14th position; however, saving it all for her very last run of three, she pulled it together and mixed things up with a back-lip to boardslide-to-fakie on the top 2 rail features followed by a cab 540, monster backflip over the 2nd jump a backside 720 over the 3rd and a 50-50 over the cannon.

Gotlieb suffered a nasty crash earlier in the day cracking her helmet during training and was not feeling great, but put on a brave face, picked herself up and was able to perform when it counted.

Her score of 89 points out of a possible 100 moved her into 2nd position behind Switzerland's Sina Candrian and ahead of 2009's US Open slopestyle champion, Jamie Anderson (USA).

Gotlieb, who was home washing the champagne out of her hair before heading out to celebrate, said that she was overwhelmed with the emotion of achieving her long time dream.

"The field was amazing with all of the top women here today competing."

"A podium at the Burton Open is awesome," said Gotlieb. "I've been working hard to land a clean back seven in competition and this time it all came together."

An elated Gotlieb went on to say, "You should see this trophy, it's huge! I'm not sure how I'm going to get it all the way back to New Zealand."

"I want to say a big thanks to everyone in Ohakune who have supported me as well as to SPARC for the contestable funding they've provided. Without their generosity none of this would have been possible."

"Thanks also to NZSBU's Robett Hollis whose texts and support over the phone helped me to achieve my goal of a podium today."

Balmy weather made Vermont feel more like California but even so Gotlieb said that the course held up really well throughout the competition.

Gotlieb's teammate Nick Brown finished a respectable 24th in the men's event landing his first run in semi-finals but sketching his 2nd and not progressing to the finals.

Ben Stewart and Rebecca Sinclair are up tomorrow in halfpipe semi-finals and finals. Their training went well today with Ben attemping cab double-cork 1080s and Rebecca landing some of her best runs of the season.

Gotlieb's next stop is the Roxy Chicken Competition in Mammoth, California.

Click Here for Women's Slopestyle Results (pdf)
Click Here for Full US Open Results (ESPN)

Watch the US Burton Open Promo Video