Who Will Be the TTR World Champ? Take Two

The Swatch TTR Women's title all comes down to today. A few days ago we talked about who could win and how, but with just the Roxy Chicken Jam slopestyle to go, the future is clarifying.

Right now the injured Jamie Anderson is still in first place. After the Roxy Chicken Jam Superpipe finals on Saturday there was a lot of changes in the top 10.

Rank			Name	Nation		Points
POS	Δ	Δ P
1		0	Anderson, Jamie	USA	7	821.35
2		0	Wiik, Lisa	NOR	7	804.27
3		+6	Clark, Kelly	USA	6	787.62
4		+4	Maas, Cheryl	NED	7	765.69
5		-1	Mittermueller, Silvia	GER	7	758.49
6		-3	Candrian, Sina	SUI	7	746.88
7		0	Oestgaard Buaas, Kjersti	NOR	6	735.95
8		-3	Pancochova, Sarka	CZE	7	714.95
9		-3	Hollingsworth, Ellery	USA	7	669.84
10		+3	Sladics, Chanelle	USA	7	622.26

 Kelly Clark won first place and jumped 6 spots in the TTR rankings to #3.  Cheryl Maas also got  big boost with her 7th place finish, moving up to 4th in the TTR rankings.

Lisa Wiik maintained her #2 spot with a 5th place finish and Kjersti Buass stayed in 7th after failing to qualify for the finals.

Clark, Maas, Wiik and Buass are the women who could potentially dethrone Jamie Anderson as TTR World Champ.

So how can they do it?

Well first let me explain TTR scoring. Riders are awarded points based on what they place in an event  and how many TTR Stars an event is rewarded. This maxes out at 1000 points for first place at a 6Star TTR event like the Roxy Chicken Jam.

If a rider has 7 or more TTR results for the year then the top 7 scores are averaged. If they have less than 7 then that total is divided by 7. That is very important to know, since riders with less than 7 events have a much easier time boosting their scores with a single event.

Right now Kelly Clark has the best shot. She needs 33.74 points to overtake Anderson. However since Clark's overall score is based on only six events, she needs only to get 237 points in the slopestyle to do this. Clark would receive 237.43 points for placing 50th, but there are around 25 competitors in the Chicken Jam. So basically she would get at least 500 points just for competing in the slopestyle and finishing last.

Kjersti Buass was our favorite going into this weekend. She got hurt in the Superpipe semifinals and pulled out of the competition, but she still got 24th place. That was worth 535 points and since she only had 5 events that still put her in good position. If Buass is able to compete today she'll need 598 points to take over first place. That's 19th place.

Lisa Wiik hung onto the 2nd spot with her 5th place finish. She'll need need to do at least as well in the slopestyle to earn the 842 points needed to surpass Jamie Anderson. Cheryl Maas also moved into contention. She needs 967 points to beat Anderson. That means taking first place in the slopestyle.

This battle is not just against Jamie Anderson, but between these four women as they vie for the TTR World Champ title and $50,000. With the points gap between them taking first doesn't mean winning the TTR title.

We'll have to break the calculators out after the finals to figure it out.  Kelly Clark has, in effect, a 360 point lead on Buass. So even if Buass got 1st place, Clark would have to do worse than 10th for Buass to takeover 1st in the TTR rankings.

Wiik and Maas would have little to no shot at winning TTR if Kelly Clark competes in the slopestyle. Clark's points advantage is such that even if she placed last, she would probably end up with more points than a first place finishing Wiik or Maas. So the battle for them will mainly be to get on the TTR podium.

If Kjersti Buass is able to compete we will have a real battle for the TTR title. If she's unable to overcome her injuries, then Kelly Clark will be the hands down favorite.