By USSA

PARK CITY — The skies were grey and the light flat, but it didn’t matter, as the men threw down an unbelievable podium sweep at the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix in Park City on Feb. 27. Eric Willett (Breckenridge, Colo.) walked away with the Paul Mitchell snowboard slopestyle win, Chas Guldemond (Reno) took second and Eric Beauchemin (Grand Blanc, Mich.) was third. On the women’s side, Karly Shorr (Milford, Mich.) stood on her first FIS World Cup podium, taking second place.

The U.S. qualified four to Friday’s international-level World Snowboard Tour event finals, and all took podium spots.

“Today is friggin’ amazing. I haven’t had this feeling in so long,” said Willett, who is coming back from a shoulder injury and a broken back last year that caused him to the miss the Olympics. “It’s insane. To be here with all my friends and to put down a run that I haven’t put down before just felt so good.” This was Willett’s first World Cup win.

Along with his third place result, Beauchemin also walked away with the overall Sprint U.S. Grand Prix tour win, taking home $10,000. “I’ve been working real hard this year and it’s an amazing to win the Grand Prix overall title,” said Beauchemin. “It’s always been a dream to win an overall like that.”

In addition to the podium, Beauchemin took home the U.S. Snowboarding National Championship, along with Hailey Langland (San Clemente).

Willett, Guldemond and Beauchemin are close friends and have supported each other throughout the season; they’re even staying together this week in Park City. At the end of each run, all three voiced their excitement about the others’ results. But Willett summed it up perfectly. “To actually have all three of us on the podium — all good friends — it couldn’t be any better,” he said. “It’s so sick.”

Shorr, 20, was sixth after the qualifiers, and with only top-10 World Cup results in her career, no one expected her to podium.

“It feels amazing! I never expected that coming into it,” said Shorr breathlessly about her first World Cup podium. “It kind of set me free. I’m really, really happy.”

Shorr—the only U.S. woman to qualify for the slopestyle finals — finished behind Cheryl Maas of the Netherlands and ahead of Elena Koenz of Switzerland.