If you weren’t following our updates on Facebook and Twitter, you may have missed the good news that the UK’s Jamie Nicholls just squeaked into the finals of the Burton US Open last night after a solid first run score. While many other riders were opting to play it safe on the upper rail sections of the course, Jamie, who has always been incredibly proficient at sliding down metal, picked up plenty of valuable points on the upper jibs, with massive tricks like a cab 270 on, 270 off. On the jumps, Jamie linked up three solid hits, including a bolts cab 10 to earn a score of 75.03, which eventually saw him in 5th place at the end of his heat.

It was once again Torstein Horgmo who, after his incredible gold medals at the X Games Big Air and Burton European Open slopestyle, came out on top yesterday, with a run that included a bunch of super-tech switch tricks on the jibs and back to back double cork 1080s on the jumps. Eric Willet posted the highest score of the second heat, with Yuki Kadono absolutely sending it for the third place place spot. He actually went so big on the second kicker in his first run that we thought he might have escaped the Earth’s gravitational field and never come back down…

The two heat format saw the top three from each heat qualify for the finals with the next six highest scores also making it in as ‘lucky losers’. By the time heat two had wrapped up we’d forgotten Jamie’s score (as had fellow British commentator Henry Jackson) and we had to bite our nails while we waited for the final results to be posted. When they did eventually appear online we were stoked to see that Jamie had indeed done enough with his first run and qualified in 11th just ahead of young Canadian Darcy Sharpe. Phew! Jamie had bettered the likes of Belgian contest stomper Seppe Smits, Former BEO champ Alek Oestreng and upset of the day – new World Snowboard Tour big air champ Sebastien Toutant, who, uncharacteristically wasn’t able to stick either of his runs cleanly.

Aimee Fuller didn’t quite have the same good fortune earlier in the day and after admitting that she wasn’t the biggest fan of the course, wasn’t quite able to land a clean run in the women’s semi finals. Her first run was, by her own admission, a little ‘sketchy’ and sadly she fell in the upper jib section of her second run – a shame seeing as she’s been riding well recently.

Spencer O’Brien managed to trump the usually dominant Jamie Anderson to top the women’s field with a solid showing on the rail section and a switch backside 180, frontside 360 and backside 540 on the jumps. Jamie, who was looking relaxed and confident, was clearly taking it easy on the course and cruised into second place with a run that was definitely a safe one by her standards. Brooke Voigt from Canada did enough for the third place spot.

The finals are all set for Friday at 5.30pm UK time and it goes without saying that we’ll be rooting for Jamie. Send it son!

BURTON US OPEN SEMI FINAL RESULTS:

Mens:

1. Torstein Horgmo NOR, 87.93
2. Eric Willett USA, 84.26
3. Yuki Kadono JPN, 83.88
4. Mark McMorris CAN, 83.43
5. Chas Guldemond USA, 81.25
6. Peetu Piiroinen FIN, 80.63
7. Maxence Parrot CAN, 80.28
8. Stale Sandbech NOR, 80.03
9. Sage Kotsenburg USA, 79.28
10. Ryan Stassel USA, 77.23
11. Jamie Nicholls GBR, 75.03
12. Darcy Sharpe CAN, 74.98

Womens:

1. Spencer O’Brien CAN, 75.33
2. Jamie Anderson USA, 74.88
3. Brooke Voigt CAN, 70.08
4. Sarka Pancochova CZE, 69.53
5. Christy Prior NZL, 63.53
6. Shelly Gotlieb NZL, 62.00