From Powdermag.com December 17, 2002--Boyd Easley stole the show in Val Thorens, France, throwing down a ballsy run highlighted by a cork 900, to win the Boarderweek Val Thorens superpipe and secure a spot at the 2003 Winter X Games in Aspen. Easley, who recently left Rossignol to join the nascent ski company Armada, finished a disappointing 11th in superpipe at Winter X 2002. His win in Val Thorens, however, bodes well for his chances in Aspen. The winner of last year's Boarderweek, Jon Olsson, went on to win superpipe gold at Winter X. Easley is already qualified for slopestyle. Canadian Thomas Rinfret finished second with a stylish run consisting of a pair of flatspins and a flair. Rinfret, a former slalom racer, culminates a two-year mission to qualify for the world's premiere style skiing competition with his finish in Val Thorens. A friend of the Three Phils since childhood, Rinfret recently helped start Plehouse Productions, a movie company, with Phil Belanger and Phil Larose. He competed in the 2001 and 2002 Winter X Games in Skier X. All-mountain ace Henrik Winstedt, of Sweden, secured the final qualifying spot in Val Thorens with a third-place finish. Winstedt, a frequent skiing partner of current X Games superpipe champ Olsson, is considered one of Europe's top up-and-coming skiers. He will be making his first appearance at the Winter X Games. A wild-card spot in the Winter X Games superpipe has been extended to Olympic champion Jonny Moseley. Moseley won silver at the 1999 Winter X Games big air competition, but failed to medal in 2000 and has been absent from the event for the last two years while training for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The final three spots for the 2003 Winter X superpipe event go up for grabs on January 24-26 in Breckenridge, Colorado. Visit http://www.globaleventmanagement.com for registration info. RESULTS: Val Thorens Boarderweek Halfpipe 1 Boyd EASLEY.....USA.....ARMADA 2 Thomas RINFRET.....CAN.....ROSSIGNOL 3 Henrik WINSTEDT.....Sweden.....ROSSIGNOL 4 Baptiste COLLOMB-PATTON.....France.....DYNASTAR 4 Niclas KARLSTROM.....Sweden.....SALOMON 6 Vincent ESTORC .....France.....SALOMON 7 Erik HJORLEFSON.....ROSSIGNOL 8 Mick MOH.....France.....ROSSIGNOL 9 Julien LOPEZ.....France.....SALOMON 10 Laurent FAVRE-REGUILLON.....France.....SCOTT USA source: http://www.powdermag.com/news/valthorenswxq/