Byrnes

Due to stormy weather, training for the season's ninth NOKIA Snowboard FIS World Cup halfpipe contest was cancelled all week, except for yesterday. But when the riders hit the Kanbayashi Snowboard Park today, they found the pipe in pretty good shape.

The men's competition was almost a repeat of last weekend, with two Swedes and a Finn claiming the medals. While Sweden's Thomas Johannson had made it to the finals straight from the first qualification run, his teammate Fredrik Sterner managed to come from behind to take the lead after the first final.

It looked like Sterner might top Johannson's 41.2 points and pull off the win, until he crashed, letting Johannson claim his third win of the season.

"I knew I could beat Fredrik," he said, "but I needed to go big and at the same time stay stable. The pipe was pretty good today, you just needed to know how to do it."

"Without being able to practice, it was kind of a challenge and we more or less had to push it together, but the pipe was in good shape..."— Tricia Byrnes (USA)

Sterner, meanwhile, seemed content with 2nd place. "I just pumped through a hole, landed on the edge and crashed straight on the bottom," he said, "I really thought I could have done better in the second run and one point is pretty close, but I'm not feeling bad that Thomas did it this time, it still stays within the team, we just switched the spots this time."

Pasi Voho from Finland took his third consecutive 3rd-place finish, but said he couldn't have expected any better today.

"I was sick almost all week and felt like I was dying after all those runs today," he said. "I am pretty sure I will catch up those Swedes fairly soon."

With today's win, Johansson also keeps the lead in the halfpipe standings, ahead of Sterner and Voho.

Byrnes Flies into 1st
"I got here from the US on Monday and needed to get over the jetlag, so it was really hard to hang around doing nothing," said women's winner Tricia Byrnes, who claimed her fourth World Cup win of the season.

	Johansson

"Without being able to practice, it was kind of a challenge and we more or less had to push it together, but the pipe was in good shape and although it was lacking transition a bit, it was fun riding," she added.

Germany's Sabine Wehr-Hasler finished 2nd, but did claim the yellow World Cup leader bib.

"The second run was probably one of my best this season," she said, "everything went well, so I am really happy."

Sweden's Anna Hellman made it to 3rd place and lost the yellow bib to Wehr-Hasler. Byrnes is in 2nd place in the standings, with just a few halfpipe contests left in the season.

Most of the World Cup riders go straight to Park City/Utah (USA) from here, while others will take a couple of days off to stay in Tokyo, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Las Vegas, before coming together again for the next World Cup stage this upcoming weekend, featuring snowboard cross, halfpipe and giant slalom.

—Britta Semmler, MountainZone.com Correspondent