BRECKENRIDGE, COLO. – Dec. 19, 2008 – Shaun White was the first athlete to win a Summer Dew Tour event in skateboard vert and he continued that success on the Winter Dew Tour by becoming the first person to earn a winter victory. White scorched the competition on Friday at Breckenridge Ski Resort, earning a 95.17 and capturing the first Winter Dew Tour men’s snowboard slopestyle title.

While White secured a spot at the top of the slopestyle point standings on Friday, the 2006 Olympic Gold Medalist isn’t finished for the weekend and still has hopes of earning yet another win. White will compete in the Superpipe prelims on Saturday and, if he advances, the finals on Sunday live on NBC (1 p.m. – 3 p.m. ET).

“I might as well go for it now,” White said. “It was cool to just put my head down and bust through it. I’m excited. I’m doing all the stops so it’s nice to start out right.”

With today’s victory, White now has a chance to become the first summer and winter Dew Cup champion. White won the skateboard vert Dew Cup in 2007 and with his 25-point lead in snowboard slopestyle, he is the favorite to win a Dew Cup on the Winter series.

In a day filled with firsts, Spencer O’Brien won the women’s snowboard slopestyle event and the first win of her career. The Courtenay, Canada native dominated the competition, posting a score of 85.00, more than seven points higher than Jenny Jones, the second place finisher.

Now O’Brien finds herself leading the season long point standings in the slopestyle discipline. A strong finish at the second stop of the Winter Dew Tour at Mt. Snow Resort in Dover, Vt. (Jan. 8-11) and at the third and final event of the 2008-09 season, the Toyota Championships at Northstar-at-Tahoe in Lake Tahoe, Calif. (Feb. 19-22), and the 20-year-old could become the first women’s slopestyle Dew Cup champion.

“The course was just amazingly built and a lot fun,” O’Brien said. “Once I got over my fear it was awesome.”

The action continues on Saturday, with the men’s freeski slopestyle finals and the men’s freeski superpipe finals. Bethel, Maine native Simon Dumont is looking to sweep the freeski disciplines this weekend. He qualified first in the superpipe prelims on Friday and will attempt to duplicate his success in the slopestyle prelims tomorrow morning and the finals held that afternoon.

image001 Historic Firsts Mark Inaugural Finals at Winter Dew Tour

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