Posted at 11:07 a.m., Friday, January 26, 2007
Kauai-born teen wins bronze in Winter X Games
Advertiser Staff
Kauai-born Elena Hight won a bronze medal Thursday in the Winter X Games superpipe in Aspen, Colo.Hight, 17, was born in Princeville but moved to the Mainland when she was 6. She now resides in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Hight dropped a backside 900 on her way to the bronze medal. Torah Bright, 20, of Australia won gold.
Last year, Hight, then 16, was the youngest member of the U.S. Snowboard Olympic Team in the Winter Games in Turin.
Considered a phenom since her preteen years, Hight became the youngest woman to land a 900 in competition when she did it at 13 and won her first professional competition in 2005.
Younger and smaller — 5-foot-1, 115 pounds — than many of her competitors, Hight now is on equal standing with riders she used to watch.
"It's pretty crazy," said Hight. "When I was young, I used to look up to Kelly and everyone so much. I have their signatures on this old T-shirt from when I was 10. It's so surreal that I'm standing next to them competing."
