By USSA

BOKWANG, South Korea – Americans dominated at the official Olympic snowboarding slopestyle test event for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, where Brock Crouch (Mammoth Lakes) took the win for his first career World Cup podium and Jamie Anderson (Meyers) won for the women. Karly Shorr (Milford, Mich.) earned her third World Cup podium with second place.

Crouch is a 16-year-old member of the slopestyle rookie team. He battled windy conditions at the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics to top the competitive field.

“The last two competitors were Brandon (Davis) and Chris (Corning) and they’re both from the U.S.,” Crouch said. “That’s when I was in first and I didn’t even care – I was so excited that I was going to podium when they were about to drop, I just wanted them to land their runs so it could’ve been a U.S. sweep.”

Olympic champion Anderson didn’t land her first two runs, but finally put it down her third time.

“It was definitely a safety (run),” Anderson said of the run that secured the victory. “I was hoping to put that down on my first run so that I could try some different runs and (things) just didn’t go my way today.”

Shorr put her first run to her feet and sat in the top spot until Anderson pulled it out on the second-to-last run of the competition. She was happy to make the podium saying, “Anytime that you do well, especially in a place that’s so far away from where I’m from and knowing that the Olympics are here and this environment is kind of like the Olympics…it’s a huge confidence boost to know that I can hang with all the top girls and be able to put down a run that will get me on the podium.”

Top qualifier Brandon Davis (Mammoth Lakes) finished just off the podium in fourth, while points leader Chris Corning (Arvada, Colo.) was sixth and Ryan Stassel (Anchorage) was eighth.