By USSA

KREISCHBERG, Austria – Twenty-three-year-old Kyle Smaine (South Lake Tahoe) dominated Kreischberg’s halfpipe competition to earn his first World Championships title Jan. 22.

Smaine led the competition from start to finish, earning the top spot in Wednesday’s qualifiers and putting down an unbeatable first run in Thursday night’s finals that would ultimately earn him the gold.

While Smaine was the obvious winner on the night, silver medalist Joffrey Pollet-Villard of France took home the honor of crowd favorite with huge amplitude and an alley-oop flat 540. Bronze went to Switzerland’s Yannic Lerjen who bumped Broby Leeds (Vail) off the podium on his third and final run.