WEST VANCOUVER — It was a Bright night at Cypress Mountain.

After crashing first run, Australia’s Torah Bright launched the most difficult trick of the night, a switch backside 720, on her second run and kept Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark, each with gold medals of their own, from grabbing another.

Teter, the Torino 2006 Gold medalist, took the silver this time, and her teammate and Salt Lake City 2002 gold medalist, Clark claimed the bronze. Both women hail from Vermont.

U.S. snowboarders have medaled in every Olympic halfpipe since the event debuted at the 1998 Nagano Games. Of 24 possible medals, U.S. riders have won 14. Tonight was the first time in 12 years that an American woman did not win the Olympic halfpipe gold medal.

But neither Teter nor Clark seemed to mind. At the press conference after the event, Bright, Teter, and Clark chatted like they were best of friends.

“In the world of snowboarding, we’re all really close friends,” said Elena Hight, who fell both runs and finished tenth. “Torah’s an amazing rider, and I’m really stoked for her.”

“Snowboarding is a unique sport,” added Clark. “It’s not cut throat. We’re happy for one another when we see each other do well.”

“Torah’s been an amazing competitor for years and years,” she added. “I’m so happy for her.”

They were also thrilled with their own podium finishes.

“This a really special medal for me because I’ve worked so hard to get here,” said Clark, who finished fourth at the 2006 Olympics. “Pursuing Olympic dreams after missing the podium by one [spot] is a very difficult thing to do. So I spent a lot more time preparing for this event.”

For Teter, it was as much about giving back as it was about earning another Olympic medal. She started her own foundation, Hannah’s Gold, after winning her gold medal in 2006. She donates her competition winnings and money from the sale of her maple syrup, also called Hannah’s Gold, to help the villagers in Kirindon, Kenya. Recently, she has also donated her winnings to earthquake victims in Haiti.

“I was pumped to try to make some money and donate it to Haiti,” said Teter. “I’m all about charity and helping other people.”

Asked if she will start selling Hannah’s Silver maple syrup, she said probably not.

Unlike the men’s halfpipe competition, this one had some drama — and lots of falls. All the favorites crashed on their first runs, except for Teter. She scored a 42.5 thanks a big frontside 900 and at the end, a stylish frontside crail (where she grabbed the toe edge of her board while straightening her back leg). But would it hold up?

Not for long. After crashing not once, but twice her first run, Bright — who suffered two concussions three weeks ago at the X Games — was first off the top second run. She put a 45.0 on the board and knocked Teter to second.

Then it was Gretchen Bleiler’s turn. The 2006 Olympic silver medalist had struggled for two weeks landing her signature trick, a crippler 720 (an inverted trick), and first run was no different.

But suddenly she did land it second run, and it surprised her. She took off too early on her next trick, a cab 720, and hit hard on the deck of the pipe.

“I knew in my heart that if I got that trick back, everything would be fine, and it almost was,” Bleiler said. “If I had waited a foot longer [before launching my cab 7], I would have done the biggest cab 7 I’ve ever done and won the Olympics!”

“But sometimes it’s not about that,” she added. “It’s about getting yourself back. Sometimes you have to appreciate your small victories.”

Next up was Clark. In her first run, she crashed trying to land her frontside 900, and it took her back four years when she crashed trying to land the same trick at the Torino Games.

Clark stuck the landing on her second run and scored just 0.2 points behind Teter.

“I put down the best run I could tonight,” said Clark, who looked relieved. “It’s never the plan to fall first run. It increases the pressure for your second run. To rise to the occasion under all the pressure and land on my feet and walk away with a bronze medal, I’m really pleased.”

Clark was also philosophical about winning another Olympic medal.

“When you see [an Olympic medal], you stand in awe,” she said. “But for the person who receives them, when they see them, they mean so much more. I see all the hard work and courage and all the people who believed in me.”