ASPEN — Local favorite Gretchen Bleiler took perhaps the biggest spill of her professional career Friday night tumbling down the superpipe wall on her second run in the finals.
Australian Torah Bright, who qualified first on Thursday with the highest score in women's X Games history, won the gold with a 91.33-point run her second time down in the finals.
But it was the Bleiler spill that silenced the crowd. Trying to stretch out a 900, Bleiler caught the top of the deck, flipped over backward twice and smashed the back of her head on the bottom of the pipe. From the top of the pipe to the bottom is more than 20 feet.
She got up slowly and was able to slide down the pipe, but she did not return for a third run.
all taken our fair share of beatings this week," Bright said. "Only because everybody wants to ride their best and push the sports even further."
Bright's winning run included a switch backside 720 and ended with a cab 720.
Kelly Clark took silver with an 88.33 on her first run and crashed on her last two runs, picking up a black eye on the first crash. That let Bright take a victory lap on her final run. Hannah Teter was third with an 83 on her final run.
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