Vito Wins X Games Gold!!

TIGNES, FRANCE, CO - Watch and/or set your DVRs tonight:
Friday, 9pm - 10:30pm Eastern Time, ESPN, Superpipe Men's Finals

(Please double check your local listings for exact times - this is subject to change.)

What a way to end a great season!!!

Since the Olympics:

Louie has been on the podium 8 out of the last 10 major contests since the Olympics:

1st Place Copper Grand Prix
1st Place Breckenridge Dew Tour
1st Place Killington Dew Tour
Bronze Medal 2011 US X Games
2nd Place 2010 US Open
2011 Grand Prix Title (won in 2008, & 2009 also)
Dew Cup Title
Bronze Medal 201 0 Euro X Games

GOLD MEDAL 2011 Euro X Games!!!!

Congratulations Louie on what many consider one of the very best  halfpipe seasons of any pro rider!

Thanks to all of you for your support!!!

TONIGHT ON ESPN
Friday, 9pm - 10:30pm, ESPN, Superpipe Men's Finals
          10:30pm - 11pm, ESPN, Medal Ceremonies
                            (Double check the exact times in your area!)

Vito Easily Qualifies for Euro X Games Finals

TIGNES, FRANCE, CO - Louie Vito has had an outstanding season this year winning the Dew Cup and his third Grand Prix title. In between all of that he has won several contests including standing on the podium at this year's U.S. X Games. This week Louie is in France for the Euro X Games gunning for his third X Games medal. Vito is one of the favorites to win the gold medal but will have his hands full with a world class field of the best riders in the world.

Here is the TV Schedule (all times are Eastern Times):

Thursday, 9pm - 11pm, ESPN, Superpipe Men's Elimination

Friday, 9pm - 10:30pm, ESPN, Superpipe Men's Finals

Louie Vito Dominating the Halfpipe

KILLINGTON, Vt. - The halfpipe at Killington's Bear Mountain was still empty when Louie Vito showed up early Thursday morning to practice. The 22-year-old snowboarder wasn't wearing his usual hoodie or anything flashy. He wasn't even wearing his Dew Tour competitors' bib. Just an unassuming black and blue coat, black pants, and a black helmet.

For the next two-plus hours, he did laps in the halfpipe - one straight air after another on the halfpipe's 22-foot walls, no fancy double corks or backside 9s.

"Just feeling out the pipe before I do any tricks," he said. "Working on holding my edge all the way through."

At least twice, he walked to the top of the pipe after a run - a workout within a workout.

He practiced until they closed the superpipe for maintenance.

For a guy perhaps best known for his moves on the dance floor in the reality TV show, "Dancing With The Stars," Louie Vito looks as if he's on a mission this year.

In previous seasons, his best results were second at the 2010 U.S. Open and two U.S. Grand Prix wins (one in 2008, another in 2009). His best result at the Winter X Games was fifth in his debut in 2006.

At the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, he was considered a favorite to win a medal but finished fifth, 3.4 points off the podium and 9 points out of first.

Talking to the press immediately after the Olympic competition, Louie looked dejected.

"I'm happy I landed both runs," he said. "That's all I really wanted to do. But obviously, I wanted to get on the podium even more. It is what it is. Those guys rode great."

This season Louie is the guy who's riding great. He has won every contest he has entered - the first Grand Prix of the season, and the first two stops of the Dew Tour.

At the Killington Dew Tour, held this past weekend, Louie led the competition his first run, but then outdid even himself. On his second run, he performed back-to-back double corks (two flips and one spin, performed off-axis), a frontside 1080 (three spins), and a frontside tail grab. His top score of 93.00 was five full points ahead of runner-up JJ Thomas and 6.5 points ahead of third-place finisher Mason Aguirre.

Thomas won a bronze medal at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and Aguirre finished fourth at the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Many of the riders at the Dew Tour said Louie is "riding amazing" this year, and according to Thomas, better than he's ever seen him ride before.

Louie is in good position to win the overall Dew Tour Cup and the $25,000 cash prize that comes with it. The Dew Tour concludes with the Toyota Championship on February 10-13 at Snow Basin, Utah - just a few miles north of Louie's current hometown of Sandy, Utah.

Louie's new focus on snowboarding started after the 2010 Olympics, says his dad, Lou Vito, who traveled to Killington from Ohio - where Louie grew up - to watch his son in the Dew Tour.

"I think he was maybe a little disappointed in his score [at the Olympics]," says Mr. Vito.

But Louie didn't let the disappointment drive him from the sport.

"He could have sat back and said, 'The heck with this, I'm not going to do this anymore,'" adds Mr. Vito. "Instead he's gone the other way. He's said he wants to do so well, that he is going to win by so much, that it doesn't matter. And he's working hard to get to that."

In the past few months, Mr. Vito says his son has developed "total laser focus."

"He works out all the time, it's crazy," he says. "His focus is unbelievable. He's become an animal."

Louie is also giving back to the community. On December 26, 2010, he hosted Louie Vito's Rail Jam in Bellefontaine, Ohio, where he grew up. The autograph session was slated for an hour, but Louie stayed for over three hours until he had met every one who was standing in line.

But it's not only focus and maturity that's driving Louie to new heights. He hired a coach who knows how to reach the podium's highest spot.

Bud Keene, who coached Shaun White to both his Olympic gold medals, is now working with Louie. (Keene also coached Louie several years ago when the young snowboarder was a student at the Stratton Mountain School in Vermont.)

"The big story with Louie this year is that he's just hell bent to get on that Olympic podium in 2014," says Keene. "For him, that process started six months ago."

"There is nothing that's more important to him than standing on that podium in 2014," adds Keene. "He's not ashamed to say that, he's not ashamed to do every single thing that he can do to achieve that end. He pays attention to his diet, he's working out like a fiend. He's very, very focused."

Keene knows of only two athletes who have taken this approach.

"One was Shaun White, the second is Louie Vito," Keene says. "They want to leave no stone unturned and no doubt in their minds that they gave it their absolute best shot."

His new focus and work ethic can perhaps be traced to his experience on "Dancing With The Stars" during the fall of 2009. For almost three months, Louie worked with Chelsie Hightower, a professional dancer, for eight-plus hours a day on dance moves that were totally foreign to him. He found the pressure and stress was far more than he expected.

"This is my line," he says now. "I'm wearing outfits that I wouldn't wear on Halloween. I'm doing a dance that I could never do perfectly. There's always something I could do better. Then live audience, live judges, spotlight. It's on TV live to 22 million people."

In comparison, he found snowboarding competitions easier, even at the Olympics.

"Snowboarding, I'm wearing what I want to wear, I'm doing tricks I can do, I know I'm good at it, I'm in my comfort zone," he adds.

And yes, he would do "Dancing With The Stars" again - "in a heartbeat."

Meanwhile, he has set aside the glitz to focus on snowboarding. At the Olympics, he sported a double-finger diamond ring, the first piece of jewelry he bought as a reminder of what he could achieve if he worked hard.

At the Dew Tour, the only bling on his fingers was his Olympic ring.

Louie is now headed to the Winter X Games, slated for January 27-30, 2011, in Aspen, Colorado.

There, he will face White, who has been taking a post-Olympic break and has yet to compete this year. White isn't working with Keene this year either - but the coach says they will resume training next year and through the 2014 Olympics.

But Louie isn't worried. Asked who his biggest competition is, he says, "It's always myself."

"There are so many good riders you can't really worry about one person or what anyone's doing," he adds. "You can only really worry about what you're doing and try to do the best run you can."

The week before the Dew Tour at Killington, Louie worked on basic riding techniques, not specific tricks, with Keene in Stowe, Vermont - where Keene lives.

Louie was the first rider to throw a double cork in competition and was at the forefront of the halfpipe trick "arms race" before the 2010 Olympics, which led to White's famous 1260 McTwist.

But Keene is mum on what new tricks he and Louie are developing. He will only say that they are working on "some new and spectacular things."

Then Keene adds, "We're going to see a whole new treasure trove of tricks come out this year, next year, and the year after, and Louie will be part of that for sure."

And hopefully, that treasure trove will lead to gold bling in 2014.

Peggy Shinn is a freelance contributor for teamusa.org. This story was not subject to the approval of the United States Olympic Committee or any National Governing Bodies.

Louie Vito X-Games Superpipe Bronze

Louie Vito SuperPipe Bronze
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Race for the Dew Cup: Louie Vito

By Colin Bane

Louie Vito's been killing it this year, dominating the Winter Dew Tour Superpipe contests in Breckenridge and Killington, and he's heading into the Toyota Championships at Snowbasin in Ogden, Utah thirsty for his first Dew Cup. Can anybody stand between Vito and his quest for the Cup?

At the Nike 6.0 Open in December Vito beat out Matt Ladley and Greg Bretz for the top spot with a front double cork 10, Cab double cork 10, crippler, Michalchuk, frontside 10, and a Cab 7 in his second run, each trick a reminder of why Breckenridge and the other Winter Dew Tour venues had to step it up this year with 22-foot superpipes to accommodate this level of riding. Vito's run under heavy snow at Breckenridge made for one of the most decisive wins in Dew Tour history: His score of 90.25 obliterated next-closest finishers Ladley (75.00) and Bretz (73.75), and left the rest of his competitors far behind.

At Killington Vito was similarly in a league of his own, the only rider in the competition to land a double cork (he landed two, back-to-back, just to emphasize the point). His score of 93.00 trounced JJ Thomas (88.00) and Mason Aguirre (86.50), and now leaves him with a massive overall points lead for the Dew Cup. His perfect score of 200/200 puts him well ahead of Thomas, with 174 points, Ladley (166), and Mason Aguirre and Steve Fisher, tied at 152.

Vito also picked up a bronze medal at X Games this month for good measure, behind Shaun White and Scotty Lago, and is currently in the lead on the US Snowboarding Grand Prix after winning the event at Copper Mountain in December.

To lose his hold on the Dew Cup, Vito would have to finish in 5th place or worse, unlikely given the season he's been having but not impossible: Vito likes to put it all on the line no matter how big his lead may be, and he'll be pushing himself even harder at Snowbasin next weekend since we haven't even seen some of his biggest tricks yet. He may very well be his own toughest competitor.

heck out footage of Louie shredding the pipe in January at the Winter Dew Tour in Killington

Check out footage of Louie shredding the pipe in December at the Nike 6.0 Open in Breckenridge

Vito Wins 3rd Straight!

Louie Vito has begun 2011 the same way he ended 2010 - at the top of the podium. The Olympian won his second straight Dew Tour and third straight overall superpipe event at the Winter Dew Tour, stop #2, in Killington, Vermont. Vito opened the season in December with a win in the Visa Grand Prix, and followed up later in December with another win on the first stop of the Dew Tour, in Breckenridge, CO.  Vito could have won with either of his two runs this weekend, as he was the only rider in the finals to land a double cork, let alone stick two back to back, as Vito did.  "A double cork is a good thing to have, but it's not a guaranteed win just by doing one," Vito said. "There are riders out there who don't have a double cork, but if they throw down they could easily beat me."  Vito ended his first run with a slight butt check at the end of the run which left him unsatisfied going into his second run but the judges still gave Vito a high enough score (90.00) to beat runner-up JJ Thomas.  "I just wanted to do a cleaner run than my first run and do a run that I was stoked on so I just wanted to put it down," Vito said.  In what could have been a cruisy victory lap after already being named the winner, Vito upped the ante with his front double cork 10, cab double cork 10, crippler roast beef, Michalchuk and frontside 10. When the score was tallied, Vito earned 3 more points to take the win with a 93.00.  Louie's win further secures his lead in the overall Dew Tour rankings heading into the final stop of the 2010-11 season and putting him as one of the leading contenders for  the Toyota Athlete of the Year.  The four-day competition is the second of three stops on the 2010-11 Winter Dew Tour. The third and final event is the Toyota Championships February 10-13 at Snowbasin Resort in Ogden, Utah.  


SUPERPIPE MEN FINALS       Top 4 
1.  Louie Vito  93.00 
2.  JJ Thomas  88.00 
3.  Mason Aguirre  86.50 
4.  Steve Fisher  83.50 



Louie's next event is the Winter X Games at Aspen, CO LIVE on ESPN, Sunday night, January 30th.

Louie Vito Rail Jam 2010 A Huge Success

Fresh off back-to-back half pipe first place victories on snowboarding's  world stage, Ohio's own Louie Vito returned to his hometown of  Bellefontaine for his annual for-charity rail jam.  Forced to hold this huge event on Sunday, the day after Christmas, due to Louie's super busy schedule, event planners hoped people would show up. Once again the popularity of Central Ohio's Snowboarder  turned Hero shined through as the event drew a record crowd of over 700  loyal fans and 350 event participants.
Autograph SigningLouie's  kind personality and generous nature were showcased at his autograph  session. Scheduled to run from 2pm-3pm, the  shear number of dedicated fans presented a time constraint issue. But, Louie talked to each fan one-on-one and posed for pictures - all with his signature smile. "I want to stay right here  until everyone has a chance to visit with me and receive an  autograph," Vito stated. And that's what he did. Not only did everyone leave with an  autograph, but they all left with a smile on their face. A personality  like this is why his popularity, events, and fan base have grown to the level they are at now. 
Awards CeremonyFollowing  the Rail Jam, competitors headed inside for the  promise of free swag from Louie's generous sponsors. Upon entering they walked into a party in progress as  local rockers PDWK were on-stage. Following the show, The Vito family and their supporting cast  began showering the local snowboard community with more gifts than Santa  brought the night before. Louie's sponsors provided over $25,000 in  snowboards, skate decks, sunglasses, electronics, video game components,  and many more quality products not normally seen at an event like this. 

CLICK HERE to watch latest Louie Toyota commercial 
Throughout the awards ceremony, the Skratchmatik Crew added   beats to keep the hype going until... "The Man" himself took the stage. Louie began   showering the crowd with everything from stickers to goggles. He   personally congratulated everyone who received a gift   after their bib was drawn randomly, each hoping they would be the Grand Prize winner of an all expenses paid trip to Windell's   Ski and Snowboard Camp at Mount Hood this upcoming summer.  To add to the experience, local Hip Hop MC, Many Styles, took to the podium and freestyled until the final prizes were awarded.

This year's event was by far the biggest ever and if the smiles and excitement are any indication - who knows what next year's Louie Vito Rail Jam will be like! 
- Louie's next event is the Winter Dew Tour stop #2 at Killington, VT
LIVE on NBC, Saturday, January 22nd.

Louie Vito Rail Jam 2010

Louie Vito Wins GOLD at Dew Tour

BRECKENRIDGE, CO - The snowboard superpipe finals were a case of rider against nature when the clouds started dumping down powder. But it was the same conditions for everyone at the Winter Dew Tour in Breckenridge and it came down to sticking your run and keeping up speed to make it to the top of the podium.

In the men's field, things didn't go as planned for Louie Vito in his first run even through he threw down two double corks right off the bat. But landing those tricks loosened him up for the second run.

"Last year I landed all my good runs in the second run," Vito said. "I like contests, I like the pressure and I like having to stick it right then and there. So in the second run I just had to put it down and I just wanted to come out strong in the first two hits because I knew it was going to get slower as I went down."
The high flier from Ohio came out charging with a frontside double cork 1080 to a cab double cork 1080 to a crippler to a Michalchuk to a frontside 1080 to a cab 720. It was the sickest run of the contest, and he threw away his first-run score of 61.00 and catapulted into a dominating lead with a score of 90.25, more than 15 points higher than anyone else.   His score held on throughout the rest of the finals, and the Nike 6.0 rider took home the win.

"Maybe I just chuck it harder. I'm smaller going harder, maybe. I don't know," Vito said, struggling to come up with an explanation for his astonishing performance.

"I'm just happy I landed," he said. "I'm super pumped. It's nice to get a win at Dew Tour."

It was the second time in eight days Vito won a major contest on a powdery pipe. He claimed the U.S. Halfpipe Grand Prix last week at Copper Mountain, on a similarly snowy day.

"Yeah, it was kind of like at Copper - I'm just real confident in my tricks and we have a great wax tech with the U.S. Snowboard Team," he said.

Vito's next competition will be in mid January at the second stop of the Winter Dew Tour in Killington, Vermont.


Louie Vito loves to  come from behind and land his tricks when it counts. And that's exactly  what he did when he threw back-to-back double corks into his run and  jumped from fourth-place to take the win.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
1. Louie Vito, 90.25
2. Matt Ladley, 75.00
3. Greg Bretz, 73.75
4. JJ Thomas, 69.50
5. Christian Haller, 69.00
6. Trevor Jacob
7. Steve Fisher
8. Mason Aguirre
9. Luke Mitrani
10. Ikka-Eemeli Laari
11. Scotty Lago
12. Kazuhiro Kokubo

Watch a replay of the Dew Tour Finals, January 1st on MTV 2 at 1pm

Louie Vito Wins U.S. Grand Prix

COPPER MOUNTAIN, CO - Coming off the most progressive  year in halfpipe snowboarding's history, the athletes at the Visa  U.S. Halfpipe Grand Prix could be forgiven for not ushering in the new  season with any unprecedented wizardry.  Instead, U.S. rider Louie Vito   stuck to reliable tricks to win the first major pipe competition of the  Northern Hemisphere winter at Copper Mountain, Colo., which received  nearly 18 inches of snow in the 24 hours preceding the contest.

Vito,  22, stomped back-to-back double cork 1080s -- frontside to cab, a combo  he has "pretty much on lock" -- to slip past Luke Mitrani, 27.9 points  to 26.7. Mitrani also landed two clean double corks but did not do them  in succession, which distinguished the two impressive runs.

For Vito,  Saturday's victory was his second in three years at the Copper Grand  Prix, sandwiched around a runner-up finish to Shaun White last year,  when both went on to compete at the Olympics. Vito followed his  perfectly executed first two hits with a frontside stiffy, a backside 9  and a front 10 -- all of which featured solid amplitude, which hasn't  always been his strength.

He considered trying to add a third double  cork to his final run, but settled for a (doomed) front 1260 attempt due  to the slow pipe and the fact that riders must incorporate a straight  air in any F.I.S. competition, he said. Vito has landed three double  corks in a run three times in his career, the most recent of which was  this summer in New Zealand.

"I was just trying to keep a good line,  because if you messed up a little bit, you paid for it in speed," he  said. "So I was trying to land everything solid and then just ride the  edge across. It wasn't too bad."

"I'm really stoked. I'm happy to  land a run when I had to and start the season off well," Vito said.  "It's good to have landed and to be on the podium with two of my best  friends."

Vito, who took the lead with his back-to-back doubles  in the first run and carried it through the end of the competition, was  joined on the podium by Luke Mitrani and Olympic bronze  medalist Scotty Lago.  According to Vito, with the first  one out of the way, he's ready for the rest of the competition season.

"I'm  happy to be back into contests and to shake those pre contest season  jitters out of the way. You get rid of the anxiety and remember the  feelings you have up there and you're ready to move forward," Vito said.

Vito's next competition is this coming week in the first stop of the Winter Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colorado.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
Top 3 Men

1. Louie Vito, Sandy, UT, 27.90
2. Luke Mitrani, Mammoth, CA, 26.70
3. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH, 25.50
Watch the Finals on TV today (Sunday, Dec. 12) on NBC at 2 p.m. ET   and again on
Dec. 18, Versus at 5 p.m. ET
Dec. 25, Versus at 4 p.m. ET

Huge Crowd Attends Louie's Dedication

By Bill Tipple


About 400 residents attended a homecoming celebration for local Olympian Louie Vito Sunday afternoon at the Holland Theatre.

 Fans were lined up outside the theatre as Louie was escorted in a limo just before two o'clock.

 It was the Bellefontaine native's first appearance here since the Olympics.

 Louie received proclamations from several elected officials, including  State Senator Karen Gillmor, the Logan County Commissioners, State  Representative Dave Burke, Bellefontaine Mayor Adam Brannon, and  Congressman Jim Jordan.

 Mayor Brannon (pictured with Louie) showcased a sign declaring  Bellefontaine "The Hometown of Olympian Louie Vito." The signs will be placed at all entrances to the city.

 Louie was praised for bringing national attention to our area through "Dancing with the Stars" and the Olympics.

 Vito, 22, took the stage and thanked the community for all of its support over the last year.

 He said "Dancing with the Stars" was a great experience that actually  helped him prepare for the pressure of the Winter Olympics.

 The professional snowboarder gave live commentary over special video  highlights of "Dancing with the Stars" and his halfpipe runs in  Vancouver.

 Louie noted that Sunday was the first time he watched his Olympic event,  mainly because he was so upset that he did not receive a medal. He  placed 5th in the halfpipe and said he is already excited about the 2014  games in Russia.

 The first 200 visitors on Sunday received a free commemorative T-shirt featuring Louie.

 The free event featured door prizes, music by Skratchmatic Krew from Dayton, and autograph signing by Louie.

 Although the event was set for two hours, Louie signed autographs until 5:45.

  

Louie Vito's Hometown Dedication

The Louie Vito Welcome Home Party this Sunday, November 7th from 2-4 pm. The entire city of Bellefontaine, Ohio be honoring Louie for his accomplishments this past year.

This is a FREE event, and open to the public!!
FREE T-shirts to the first 200 people!
FREE door prizes!
FREE autographs!

There will be food and refreshments, the Bellefontaine High School Pep Band will play, videos from Louie's Olympic and "Dancing with the Stars" experience will be shown, Skratchmatik Krew (DJs from Dayton) will perform live, and a question and answer session with Louie will all be part of this fun, FREE event!

There will also be a formal dedication of a "Welcome to Bellefontaine Home of 2010 Olympic Snowboarder Louie Vito" to Louie. These signs will be permanently displayed at all of the entrances to the city of Bellefontaine, Ohio.

The Holland wants to thank Louie for his part in raising nearly $9,000.00 for their restoration, and Louie wants to thank the community for their great support!

Louie will also present one of his "Dancing with the Stars" costumes to the Holland for their display case. Join us Sunday, November 7th from 2 - 4 for a great party for Olympian Louie Vito! It's a FREE event to thank the great people of our community!!!!

And don't forget, be one of the first 200 people at the Holland on Sunday afternoon, November 7th at 2:00 pm and receive a FREE souvenir T-Shirt!

Come out and show your support! Let's join together again and get ready for a great season of events!

If you have any questions please go to my facebook page "Linzee Vito" or on Twitter "www.Twitter.com/linzeevito"
********************************

While in Ohio Louie will hang with some of his Columbus Crew....

The new standard for Pre-Season events is set. November 6, 2010, over 25 tons of ice will be delivered to Downtown Columbus transforming the LC Pavilion into a ski and snowboard freestyle arena. The event will be showcased with a guest appearance by local Snowboard Olympian and Dancing with the Stars contestant, Louie Vito. Live entertainment will be provided by two time snowboard half-pipe Olympian Trevor Andrews' band Trouble Andrew, Professional Snowboarder/Turntablist, DJ Marc Frank Montoya, and from Dayton, Ohio, The Skratchmatik Krew. Rumor has it that Louie's good buddy, Todd Richards will also be in attendance.

Win a Louie Vito Signed Helmet

Click here for all the details on making this baby your own.....

VITO PODIUMS AGAIN

The last day of competition of the Burton New Zealand Open went down this past weekend at Cardrona Alpine Resort in the Southern Lakes of New Zealand. The rider list was packed with heavy hitters that were ready to slay.

The halfpipe competition was changed to due to the inclement weather leading up to the contest: It ran with one super final, with each rider getting two runs each to please the judges and take care of business.

Cardrona's halfpipe shaper John Melville worked through the night, with a snowstorm that didn't let up until 2 a.m., to tune up the event's 22-foot Olympic-sized creation. The freshly-cut pipe was then salted, slipped and dyed, setting the stage for a stunt ditch battle of epic proportions.

At last year's Global Open here in New Zealand Shaun White won the comp with back-to-back double corks, but this year Louie Vito stepped up the game with a triple threat double cork combo (frontside 1080 double-cork to Cab 1080 double-cork to double crippler). But that only got him third place!  But all of this amazing riding from Louie and Japan's Taku was not enough to beat Switzerland's Iouri Podladtchikov -- aka iPod.

Vito arrived in New Zealand only a couple of days before the event and had not landed a competition run since last March's U.S. Open.  Because he was granted a free pass to the finals (due to the weather) Louie gambled that he would land his extremely difficult run in at least one of his only two chances in the finals.  He almost landed the perfect run his first shot but couldn't quite make his third double cork.  His "go big or go home" mantra put plenty of pressure on this Olympian but he plowed through the pressure and landed a beautiful final run that shot him from the bottom of the pack to the podium.

The Burton NZ Open will go down once again in the history books as a preview of the progressive riding and good times we'll all see on display in this coming Northern Hemisphere winter season.

LOUIE VITO VS. NEW ZEALAND

The southern hemisphere's premier snowboarding event, the eighth annual Burton New Zealand Open is all set to take place at Cardrona Alpine Resort in Wanaka. With elite athletes from around the world converging to compete in the Halfpipe, and a share of the NZ$50,000 prize purse, the action promises to be intense from the outset.

Saturday is the final day of competition, with the Halfpipe semi-finals and finals. Since New Zealand is 16 hours ahead of us, the event will begin this evening at 7pm Eastern Time.  You can watch the event live at www.Go211.com.

The contest has attracted a multitude of top riders, with the rider's list reading like a who's who of the snowboarding world.  Bellefontaine's own Louie Vito will be representing the United States and is one of the favorites to podium in this event.  Louie will have his hands as fellow Olympians Iouri Podladtchikov aka Ipod (SUI), Kazuhiro Kokubo (JPN) and Ryo Aono (JPN) will make this early season contest fun to watch.  The Burton NZ Open marks the first stop on the prestigious Burton Global Open Series and is also a Five Star event on the Swatch T.T.R. World Snowboard Tour.

As in past years, the Burton NZ Open will be webcast live this evening at 7pm on www.go211.com with live scoring, live chat, email the commentators, and real-time ranking among other features. In addition, the New Zealand Open will offer a live scoring service, accessible with any mobile phone or web browser. For iPhone users, a native iPhone app is available on the App Store free of charge.

Louie to meet the President.........

Team USA athletes have been visiting the White House since President Gerald Ford first invited the team in 1976 following the Montreal Games.  It's an opportunity for the country and it's leadership to formally recognize the Olympic athletes for representing their country with distinction on one of the world's greatest stages.

Teamusa.org will have complete coverage of the event, and will be making on-the-spot updates and postings via Facebook and Twitter. There will also be a live webcast of the President's speech to the Olympians on April 21st from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. EDT, which can be viewed at www.teamusa.org.
This will be Vito's first time he has experienced a visit to the White House.

In addition to visiting the White House, Team USA athletes will also take a tour of the Pentagon where they will meet Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and will meet with injured soldiers and marines at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The athletes will also visit with local school children and assist with the construction of a new home as part of the Habitat for Humanity project.

For complete coverage of all the events, including athlete interviews, photos, videos and behind-the-scenes features, follow the U.S. Olympic Team on Facebook and Twitter, and check back often with teamusa.org.

Louie in the National Enquirer

Louie Vito takes 2nd place at the 2010 U.S. Open

At the 2010 US Open Superpipe finals Louie Vito dropped into a back-to-back-to-back series of double corks, jumping into second place with a run that left everyone dizzy. Louie pulled off a double cork 1080, to cab double cork 1080, to double crippler, then a backside nine and a huge frontside 1260. Whoa!

This time Vito had to settle for another under judged score that kept him in second. On paper, Vito's run added up to a whole lot more, and the crowd let the judges know their position after the spinning snowboarder did not make it on the top step of the podium.

"I'm just stoked to do it," said Vito about sticking three double flips into one run. "Danny Davis has always a been a good friend of mine, and he did three and broke them down in different spots. Danny and Kevin inspired me -- so I just had to step it up and try something different."

To watch Louie's US Open back-to-back-to-back double cork Superpipe run CLICK HERE

This coming weekend, Louie will be at Mountain High in California for his "Ride With Louie" day on Saturday, March 27th.

VITO WINS X-GAMES MEDAL UNLEASHES THE TRIPLE DOUBLE

This past weekend's Men's Snowboard SuperPipe final at the first ever Winter X Games Europe could have been the best pipe contest of the year.

The event attracted some of the best freestyle skiers and snowboarders on the planet to Tignes, France and entertained the huge crowds who gathered for three days of incredible action. The highlight of the entire games was the men's snowboard halfpipe final.

The lineup was an impressive who's who of progressive snowboarders and there was an expectant buzz of excitement as a number of Olympic riders took to the hill.

The final winner was Iour Podlatchikov (iPod), with Matheiu Crepel of France in second and America's Louie Vito in third place. iPod's run was technical, clean and big on style and amplitude but the stand out for the night was definitely Louie Vito's run. Although it only took third place he opened with three doubles back-to-back-to-back. That is the first time that trick has ever been done in a contest!  Spinning on two axis at once with two full flips, Vito made history by being the first person to ever open a run with three back to back to back tricks like this. The fact that Vito's score -- a 92.33 -- didn't beat Crepel's, was upsetting.  The crowd went wild but the judges didn't seem to be as impressed and only gave him the bronze.

Click here to watch Louie's medal run

At the media conference following the event Vito said, "After I fell on the first one, I was over trying to do a mellow run and just went for it. I was stoked. I don't think three in a row has ever been done before and to do it in a contest was great! In the end you're trying to please four people and if the run you like doesn't please them there's nothing you can do. I was really glad I landed that run and that's about all you can say."

The buzz within the industry has been on how crazy the halfpipe riding has progressed in the past 18 months.  Heck, the progression of riding in this contest alone, just took another leap forward since last month's Olympics!

Next week's U.S. Open should be a treat.

Vito shines at the Olympics

Vito is ultra competitive. He has a burning desire to win. I am sure he is disappointed to have come up a little short. However, there is absolutely no shame in finishing fifth in the Olympics.

He told me a couple of weeks ago that he just wanted to land his run. Wherever that placed him was out of his control. He achieved his goal with two very solid runs in the finals.

That was not quite enough to get on the medal stand, but he can leave his first Olympics knowing he gave it all he had. That is all an athlete can hope for.

His Olympic performance capped a whirlwind of a few months. He was a smashing success on ABC's Dancing With The Stars last fall. His popularity has since skyrocketed as his face has shown up in newspapers and magazines everywhere.

Although his celebrity status has grown, the 21-year-old Vito showed Wednesday that his focus on snowboarding has never wavered.

During the X Games a few weeks ago, one of the ESPN announcers said Vito was known more for his appearance on Dancing With The Stars than for his snowboarding.

His fifth place finish in Vancouver cemented the fact that Vito is first and foremost an elite level snowboarder. The dancing gig was good for his popularity and for endorsements, but Vito's passion has always been becoming among the best in his sport. That mission has now been accomplished.

The Olympics was just the tip of the iceberg for Vito. He continues to raise his snowboarding to a higher level. The sky is the limit. Making it back to the Olympics in 2014 will be a monumental challenge.

One thing is for sure. Vito will give it his best shot. Just as he did in Vancouver.