NEW YORK – December 19, 2008 – Olympic gold medalist Shaun White won the men’s snowboard slopestyle competition and Spencer O’Brien won the women’s event Friday in the first stop of the inaugural Winter Dew Tour.

The 22-year old White scored a 95.17 on his second run, which began with a frontside 270 at the top rail, a frontside 1080 on the first jump to a backside 900. He finished with an impressive 1260, a three and a half revolution spin, on the bottom jump.

“I knew I could do it, I just kind of believed in that spin at the end there,” White said. “I didn’t really practice it at all, but for some reason I knew I had it.”

Mikkel Bang of Norway was second at 92.33 and Janne Korpi of Finland placed third at 86.17.

White, of Carlsbad, Calif., is now the season point leader, and the first Dew Tour crossover athlete with a Dew Cup in skateboard vert from the summer series.

“I’m excited,” White said. “I’m doing all the stops so this is nice for me to start it off right.”

On the women’s side, Canadian snowboarder O’Brien won the event with a gap to boardslide to fakie, into a switch backside 780, a backside 360 and a backside 540 off the jumps to finish with a 5050 to frontside boardslide on the bottom rail. She finished with a score of 85.00.

Jenny Jones of Great Britain was second at 77.33 and Bev Vuilleumier, of Lake Tahoe, Calif was third at 74.17.

“I was really nervous coming in,” O’Brien said. “It was a lot bigger than I expected seeing it’s the first contest of the year. But all the girls took to it really well. The course was just amazingly built and it was so much fun so once I got over my fear it was awesome.”

Similar to the Dew Tour’s summer competition structure, the Winter Dew Tour is based on a cumulative points system as the top snow athletes battle it out for a piece of the $1.5 million prize purse and the chance to take home the Dew Cup at the conclusion of the season in February.

The four-day competition is the first of three stops of the Winter Dew Tour that features men’s and women’s freeskiing and snowboarding disciplines. Saturday's action features men’s freeski slopestyle finals, women’s freeski slopestyle exhibition, and men’s freeski superpipe finals while the Sunday schedule includes the men’s and women’s snowboard superpipe finals.

The complete 2008/09 Winter Dew Tour schedule is as follows:

Event Date Location
Stop 1 Dec. 18-21, 2008 Breckenridge, Colo.—Breckenridge Ski Resort
Stop 2 Jan. 8-11, 2009 West Dover, Vt.—Mount Snow Resort
Stop 3 Feb. 19-22, 2009 Lake Tahoe, Calif.—Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort

Winter Dew Tour at Breckenridge
Friday, December 19, 2008
Breckenridge, Colo.

Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Finals
1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, Calif. 95.17. 2. Mikkel Bang, Norway, 92.33. 3. Janne Korpi, Finland, 86.17. 4. Andreas Wiig, Norway, 81.67. 5. Sam Hulbert, Peterborough, N.H., 78.67. 6. Charles Reid, Canada, 76.33. 7. Torstein Horgmo, Norway, 74.50. 8. Daniel Ek, Norway, 72.67. 9. Kevin Pearce, Norwich, Vt. 10. Mason Aguirre, Duluth, Minn., 44.17

Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Points
1. Shaun White, 100. 2. Mikkel Bang, 90. 3. Janne Korpi, 80. 4. Andreas Wiig, 75. 5. Sam Hulbert, 70. 6. Charles Reid, 65. 7. Torstein Horgmo, 60. 8. Daniel Ek, 55. 9. Kevin Pearce, 50. 10. Mason Aguirre, 45.

Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Finals
1. Spencer O’Brien, Canada, 85.00. 2. Jenny Jones, Great Britain, 77.33. 3. Bev Vuilleumier, South Lake Tahoe, Calif., 74.17. 4. Jamie Anderson, South Lake Tahoe, Calif., 67.83. 5. Megan Ginter, Redmond, Wash., 54.83. 6. Kjersti Ostgaard Buaas, Norway, 28.50

Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle Points
1. Spencer O’Brien, 100. 2. Jenny Jones, 90. 3. Bev Vuilleumier, 80. 4. Jamie Anderson, 75. 5. Megan Ginter, 70. 6. Kjersti Ostgaard Buaas, 65. 7. Kimberly Fasani, 60. 8. Chanelle Sladics, 55. 9. Marie-France Roy, 50. 10. Torah Bright, 45.

Winter Dew Tour
The Winter Dew Tour consists of three major, multi-sport events spanning across the country, with a cumulative points system, and a $1.5 million competitive purse. Each event features men and women’s snowboard (superpipe and slopestyle), and men’s freeskiing (superpipe and slopestyle). At season’s end, the overall point’s leaders in the six disciplines are crowned year-end champions and awarded the prestigious Dew Cup. As part of an Alli property, key lifestyle elements compliment the competitions at each Tour event including the Festival village, specialty competitions, and live cutting edge music. The Winter Dew Tour is broadcast live on NBC Sports with additional competition and lifestyle broadcasts on MTV, MTV2 and USA. The Winter Dew Tour is also distributed on Fuel TV, Universal HD, Rush HD, and internationally on Eurosport, Fox Australia, Extreme Channel and Allarco superchannel. Winter Dew Tour partners include Mountain Dew (tour title sponsor); Toyota (event title sponsor). Associate partners include Ball Park, Nike 6.0, PlayStation®, Wendy’s, and Verizon Wireless. More information can be found at www.allisports.com.

NBC Universal
NBC Universal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates the No. 1 television network, the fastest-growing Spanish-language network, a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal.

MTV Networks
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 150 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, LOGO, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.