Some 22 hours after Shaun White claimed gold, the 12 finalists in the women's edition began dropping in - and falling left and right. Whether it was fatigue, deteriorating conditions, or some inevitable cosmic letdown after the men's comp high (am I the only one who thinks it'd be more exciting to run the women before the men?), the girls struggled to stay upright. The lack of a dominant first-round run left the outcome in question till the very end. Here's what stood out to one grandstand-sitting observer.

1. Rooting for snowboarders is...hard.

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The crowd dressed loud and proud for the occasion--lots of patriotic hats, jackets, flags, and more than one inflatable kangaroo--with the most vocal members being those supporting Canada, Australia, and the U.S. Unfortunately, they often found themselves cheering loudly for their favorites, groaning as they ate snow halfway down the run, then waiting a respectful few seconds before whooping just as loudly when the girls got back to their feet.

2. Torah Bright is one tough Aussie.

I don't know much about Bright besides the fact that she's Mormon, she's suffered concussions this season, and she has a really cool name. But it's hard to imagine how anyone could rebound from a first-round run like hers, which featured not one but two skull-rattling bailouts. The resulting 5.9 left the top qualifier in last place, meaning she had to shake off the cobwebs, strap back into her golden bindings, and start her second run just 10 minutes later. And yet, like Rocky after Ivan Drago beat the living crap out of him, Bright rallied with a vengeance, stomping five sick, technical tricks in a row to notch a world-beating 45. It was almost exhilarating enough to make me forget she's not American.

3. Hannah takes the stairs to silver.

Late last year, I interviewed Hannah Teter about her training regimen, which included repeatedly running up 120-plus stone steps near the beach in Encinitas with her 158-pound boyfriend on her back. The leg strength showed in her first-round 42.4. Yet with silver secured and the chance to go bold for gold on the evening's final run, she lost momentum halfway down the pipe, sleep-riding to a disappointing 39.2. That's a shame, because as a recent Northwestern study showed, silver winners end up less satisfied than those who squeak to bronze. No wonder she appeared tight-lipped during the flower ceremony, while Bright and hard-riding, high-flying, come-backing bronze winner Kelly Clark (the 2002 champ) flashed snow-white grins. Speaking of grins, you've gotta admire the class of favorite Gretchen Bleiler, who threw some of the biggest, baddest 900s, fell on both finals runs, and still smiled wide for the cameras. One wonders whether her performance would be different if this comp were held in, say, the beautiful Aspen-Snowmass pipe, but as she said last week, every rider's in the same boat. All-around awesome gal.

4. Watch out...China is coming.

Afterward, I chatted with an attendee from Shanghai. She told me China's in a funny spot, snowboarding-wise, because the best slopes are in the rural north, but the only people who can afford to ride them reside in more urbanized areas far, far away. And yet, the Chinese have begun ID'ing and training prodigious snowboard athletes the same way they do in other sports, and it appears to be paying off. Newcomers Liu Jiyau and Zhifang Sun placed fourth and seventh, respectively. What's even scarier for Australia and the U.S.? Both girls are teenagers. The Sochi 2014 podium just might feature as much red and yellow as red, white, and blue.

5. Insert gratuitous Canada joke here.

Canada's best female halfpiper, Mercedes Nicoll, finished sixth. I say next time she unveils a hard-rocking, catchy, yet ultimately annoying trick called the Nicoll Back. Eh?

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Words and photos by Steve Mazzucchi