Autti simply ‘piping' hot in half pipe competition

British Columbia - Finland's Antti Autti won the half pipe event Saturday for his second gold medal the World Snowboard Championships. Autti achieved his second win of the competition by scoring 47.2 with a cloud-scraping, jaw-dropping first run.

Whistler's Justin Lamoureux thrilled the hometown crowd by picking up the silver medal with a score of 44.6. His performance put Canada in a tie with Austria for most medals at the championships with five apiece. Norway's Kim Christiansen was third with a score of 42.4.

In the women's competition, France's Doriane Vidal won her third world championship with a score of 45.7. Manuela Laura Pesko of Switzerland was second at 41.9, while American Hannah Teter was third at 35.8.

The half pipe is a semi-circular hole dug in the snow. The pipe is 150 metres (492 feet) long and 18.5 metres (60.7 feet) wide with 5.3-meter (17.4-fee)-high walls. Riders drop into the pipe, using the steep walls to pick up speed, then are launched up over the other side, where they do twirls, twists and flips.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin