Double trouble: Speculation about whether Torah Bright would deliver on the double cork Thursday ended when she fell on her first run. Had she been in first place after her first run, the way the Shaun White was Wednesday night, there's little doubt she would have tried it. After she fell, it was all about whether the rest of her repertoire was strong enough to fend off Kelly Clark and Gretchen Bleiler. The move she fell on is a technical combination called a backside 360 to a switch backside 720. Most of the best guys would have issues pulling that move down and she did it with style on her second run. It was pretty obvious at that point that Torah has a lot more going for her than the double cork. This win is not only huge for Australia, which will be toasting her in a big way, but for snowboarding as well. When the best performer in a sport is also a great role model and spokesperson, that's a win-win. The world is about to fall in love with Torah Bright.

Right back in the saddle: Torah came through the qualifier in first, which means she rode last in the first round of the final. That's a huge advantage because you know exactly what you need before you drop in. At that point, Hanah Teter was leading with a 42, which was well within range. But when Torah fell early, she ended up in last place after the first round. Suddenly, she was in the worst position possible, having to be the first one down in the final round. Shaking off a fall quickly isn't easy, but it helps sometimes to be thrown straight back up there. If she had to sit, wait and sulk over what went wrong (like Gretchen Bleiler did) the result could have been different.

Teter's totter: For Hannah Teter to get on the medal stand again after winning in 2006 is a significant accomplishment. Teter hasn't been doing a whole lot of training over the past four years. Some bad injuries forced her to step away from snowboarding for a while and what's nice to see is she put that time to great use by getting involved in all kinds of charity work. Going out and finding herself put a lot of things in perspective for her, which always translates well under pressure. She didn't come to the Olympics with the best repertoire, but she certainly made the most of her effort. And her silver medal success will probably continue to help her carry out her dreams.

Whatever works for ya: Kelly Clark has a pretty funny way of calming her nerves. If you were watching closely she was singing pretty loud at the top of the pipe getting ready for her runs. Sometimes she's still singing as she rides. Whatever calms the nerves is worth busting out on this stage. In typical Kelly Clark fashion, she went huge Thursday. None of the ladies can touch Clark in the amplitude department. But her most difficult trick is the 900, which is a spin move. With the direction snowboarding is going, she's going to have to start working on some inverted moves if she wants to bring home a gold medal in Russia.

A hard knock life: There were two pretty heartbreaking incidents Thursday. The worst was Queralt Castellet of Spain. After advancing to the final Thursday morning, she suffered a huge wipeout during warm-ups for the final and had to be taken off on a stretcher. It's a shame, too, because she was representing the Europeans well. The other punch in the gut -- at least for me -- was seeing Gretchen Bleiler go down twice in the final. Gretchen has the whole package in her routine: the 900 spins, a beautiful Crippler (back flip with a spin) and Gretchen has plenty of amplitude. I thought she had the best shot at catching Torah because of her Crippler, but it wasn't her night.

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