495 Degrees Per Second: How Olympic Snowboarding Gold Medalist Kelly Clark Hucks Herself

Kelly Clark is the two-time defending X Games Gold Medalist in Women's Superpipe. She won gold in Salt Lake in '02 and bronze in Vancouver in 2010. At the 2011 X Games she became the first woman to land a 1080 in competition. The 30th U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships are going on right now, and Clark is currently in first place in the women's halfpipe. Popular Mechanics previewed the event by setting up a high-speed camera to break down Clark's technique, which she discussed with our friend Jeremy Repanich. Go read how they drop some science on dropping into the pipe.

It's pretty sick, brah.

Anatomy of Big Air: How a Champion Snowboarder Uncorks a Huge Trick [Popular Mechanics]