DOVER- In what can only be described as a foregone conclusion, Kelly Clark will be a member of the 2010 US Olympic snowboarding team. The Dover native and Mount Snow rider was formally named to the team earlier this week.

Two weeks ago, Clark qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympic games when she took the top score at the Grand Prix halfpipe event at Mammoth Mountain, CA. She performed a frontside air, backside 5, frontside 9, backside air, frontside 7, and cab 7 flawlessly, earning a top score of 48.40. Hannah Teter, of Belmont, finished second and Holly Crawford, of Australia, finished third.

With the 2010 Winter Olympics just a few weeks away, Clark is showing no signs of slowing down. For the next four weeks, Clark will be training and competing in three more events before heading to Vancouver. Clark said she will be competing in the two final Olympic qualifiers at Park City, UT and Buttermilk, CO and the Winter X-Games in Aspen, CO. “Having already qualified for the team, I will use every other event as practice for the Olympics. I have a great opportunity to try difficult runs in a contest setting without pressure to place well,” said Clark via e-mail.

This will be Clark’s third trip to the Winter Olympics. She won a gold medal in the women’s superpipe at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and she finished fourth in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Clark is hoping to win her second gold medal this year. “Every Olympic year starts years before it actually gets here. Everything else takes a back seat to the Olympic games, and having been through the qualifying process two times already, I knew how to prepare,” said Clark.

Locally, the Winter Dew Tour Toyota Championships are right around the corner, but Clark, one of the event’s marquee snowboarders, will not be competing.

The Alliance for Actions Sports, operator of the Winter Dew Tour, has confirmed Clark will not be competing at the upcoming Mount Snow competitions. The Winter Dew Tour is a two-sport series featuring freestyle skiing and snowboarding. Now in its second year, the Winter Dew Tour has become a major winter action sports event featuring well known X-Games and Olympic champions such as Clark, Tanner Hall, Simon Dumont, Shaun White, Danny Kass, and Hannah Teter, of Okemo.

In July 2009, Breckenridge, CO, and Snowbasin, UT, were awarded the first and second legs of the 2010 Winter Dew Tour. Mount Snow was selected as the third and final leg of the tour and host of the 2010 Winter Dew Tour Toyota Championships, with competitions taking place February 4-7.

Clark arrives in Vancouver, BC on February 10. She will participate in the opening ceremonies for the 21st Winter Olympic Games on February 12 and the women’s superpipe event on February 18, at the Cypress Mountain freestyle skiing and snowboarding venue.

Mount Snow events director Greg Fisher said he “wasn’t surprised” that Clark won’t be participating in this year’s Winter Dew Tour at Mount Snow. Although Fisher said he would like to see Clark compete in her hometown, he said he understands her decision. “We all wish her the best in the Olympics. Kelly is one of the best ones out there,” said Fisher.

Clark will return to southern Vermont in March, when she competes in the Burton US Open at Stratton Mountain.