LAST UPDATED MARCH 12, 2015
Where do you start with a Kelly Clark Snowboader Bio – seriously, her career is so chock full of highlights it’s hard to know where to start.
Let’s put it this way – if snowboarding had majors like Tennis & Golf, Kelly would have more than Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Roger Federer and Serena Williams (randomly picking 4 major snowboarding competitions – The Burton US Open (5), Burton European Open (5), Winter X Games (8) & FIS World Cups (6)).
I know, I know this isn’t the perfect comparison :-), but it does illustrate Kelly’s consistent dominance in the half pipe over the last 12 or so years.
QUICK FACTS |
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Age: 31 |
Stance: Regular |
Nationality: USA |
Height: 5′ 4″ |
Disciplines: Freestyle (Half Pipe Specialist) |
Home Turf: Mammoth Mountain |
The World Snowboard Tour (WST) Rankings
With 4 WST titles to her name (the overall in 2009 and the half pipe titles in 2012, 2013 & 2014), Kelly has consistently been at the top or near the top of the standings for the last 8 years.
She has taken out the Half Pipe titles for the last 3 years running, showing that she is only getting better.
Year | Overall | Half Pipe |
---|---|---|
2006 | 83rd | – |
2007 | 7th | – |
2008 | 3rd | – |
2009 | 1st | – |
2010 | 14th | – |
2011 | 2nd | – |
2012 | 10th | 1st |
2013 | 11th | 1st |
2014 | 15th | 1st |
Olympic Record
Kelly has competed in 4, yes 4 Olympic Games!
And her tally? – well she won Gold at her first attempt in Salt Lake City in 2002 as just a 18 year old! In the other 3 games she has attended since she hasn’t quite reached those heights but added 2 Bronzes to that medal tally in 2010 & 2014.
Year | Olympics (Half Pipe) | Host City |
---|---|---|
2002 | GOLD | Salt Lake City, USA |
2006 | 4th | Torino, Italy |
2010 | BRONZE | Vancouver, Canada |
2014 | BRONZE | Sochi, Russia |
Winter X Games
As if her stats leading up to this section weren’t impressive enough, she manages to do even better at the Winter X Games.
She has a staggering 8 Winter X Games Gold Medals plus 4 Silvers and a Bronze to accompany those. She won Gold in 4 of the last 5 years in Aspen (with Silver in her most recent outing) and secured Gold every single time she entered the European version whilst that competition was still running.
Add to that her Gold & Two Bronzes (and a 4th place) over 4 Olympic Games and her 4 World Snowboard Tour Titles and Kelly Clark is the undeniable Queen of the Half Pipe.
Year | Aspen (Half Pipe) | Aspen (Slopestyle) | Tignes (Half Pipe) |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | SILVER | 6TH | N/A |
2005 | 5TH | DNE | N/A |
2006 | GOLD | DNE | N/A |
2007 | 10TH | DNE | N/A |
2008 | BRONZE | DNE | N/A |
2009 | SILVER | DNE | N/A |
2010 | SILVER | DNE | N/A |
2011 | GOLD | DNE | GOLD |
2012 | GOLD | DNE | GOLD |
2013 | GOLD | DNE | GOLD |
2014 | GOLD | DNE | CANCELLED |
2015 | SILVER | DNE | – |
Other Achievements
She was also crowned world champion in 2012 in the recently inaugurated World Championships of Snowboarding (WCS). The WCS is a Freestyle only world championships that has Slopestyle and Half Pipe as its featured events. It is intended that this event is run every 4 years – so keep an eye out for the 2016 version.
Oh, and she was the first women to land a 1080 in competition – at the 2011 Winter X Games.
Recent Events
Clark’s most recent big event, at time of writing, was the recently completed US Open (March 2015) . At that tournament, you guessed it, she grabbed the No.1 spot in the half pipe!
Earlier in the year she was only thwarted in achieving her 5th Gold in a row at the Winter X Games by the up and comer, and fellow Mammoth Mountain local, Chloe Kim.
With her form over the last few years being the best of her career so far, she shows no signs of slowing down. How long can this legendary rider continue?
As always your input, feedback and any questions very welcome below.
Photo credit
By John Lemieux [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Such a thorough post on a great snowboarder! I enjoyed reading every bit! The addition of the comparison tables and video in the end adds more weight to your post! I am bookmarking your site right away! Thanks for the post.
Cheers! 😀
Hey Srijan – thanks for your comments. Glad you enjoyed it. Kelly really has achieved a lot in her sport.