This week's Westword cover boy Steve Fisher finished in seventh place in qualifiers at Copper Mountain today, just making the cut for finals tomorrow. That skin-of-his-teeth finish underscores how hard his Olympic quest is going to be: He finished behind Shaun White, Louie Vito, Greg Bretz, Danny Davis and Scotty Lago, a who's who of American riders with new double cork tricks in their repertoire coming into the season. For full results from the event, check out Live-Timing.com
Fisher doesn't have any double cork trick variations in his bag yet; it may mean the difference between a trip to Vancouver in February and another year of watching the Olympics from his armchair in Breckenridge.
To catch the men's and women's finals, head up to Copper on Saturday, December 12 from 10 a.m.- 12:30 p.m., or tune in to NBC on Sunday.
This week's event at Copper is the first of five U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix contests over the next two months. Results from the series will determine the Olympic quota spots for Team U.S.A.