Australia's Torah Bright takes halfpipe gold in Cypress Mountain

From Sportsbeat staff, in Cypress Mountain

 AUSTRALIA'S Torah Bright upstaged her American rivals to clinch snowboarding halfpipe gold with a flawless second run at Cypress Mountain.

CHAMPION: Australia's Torah Bright clinches Olympic halfpipe gold in Cypress Mountain, ending the American dominance in the discipline (Getty Images)

The 23-year-old two-time X-Games champion was in scintillating form in qualifying and chalked up 41.4 and 45.8 points in her two runs to breeze into the final.

A stumble in her first run in the final ensured Bright could only collect 5.9 points and meant she would be the first of the finalists to have her second outing.

But she laid down a formidable marker in round two, piling the pressure on her opponents and the rest of the field buckled under the pressure.

I don't think it's quite sunk in yet. My parents actually surprised me. I can't wait to run to the grandstands and see them," she said.

"I was standing up there thinking, 'there's nothing I can do now, whatever will be, will be'.

"We were planning on having a big party whether I was on the podium or not."

The USA's defending champion Hannah Teter had raised the bar in the first run, chalking up 42.4 points but after watching Bright surpass that score, the best she could manage in her second outing was 39.2 and she had to make do with silver.

Meanwhile, Kelly Clark, also of the USA came closest to challenging her Australian rival on her second run, picking up 42.2 points but she had to settle for bronze.    

"I'm so happy to walk away with this medal tonight. I had fallen on my first run and to finish with a medal it's incredible," added Clark.

"Coming into this event I really wanted to have fun and it's just a by product of that just being happy."

 AS IT HAPPENS: Day seven of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver