Japanese halfpipe snowboarder Mero Narita has won the women's overall halfpipe World Cup title for the 2004-05 season, the Ski Association of Japan said Wednesday.
Mero Narita, 17, performs in a World Cup halfpipe competition in Lake Placid, N.Y. Narita won the women's overall halfpipe World Cup title after accumulating a 1,090-point lead over her closest competitor with one event remaining.
Narita, 17, is leading the women's rankings with 3,990 points, 1,090 clear of fellow-Japanese Soko Yamaoka. The SAJ said Narita's lead became insurmountable when World Cup organizers confirmed that there is only one halfpipe event left in the season.
Earlier, skiing's world governing body, the FIS, declined to rule out the possibility that two more events would be held during the upcoming meet in Tandadalen, Sweden, to make up for an event canceled last month due to inclement weather.
The March 16-19 meet in Sweden is the final stop of the season for the snowboarding World Cup circuit. The winner in each halfpipe event on the tour earns 1,000 points.
Narita, an Osaka native, won her first overall title, following in the footsteps of defending champion Yamaoka.
Narita, sixth in last season's final standings, has had four podium finishes this season, including a victory at Sungwoo Resort in South Korea on Feb. 26, her first on the World Cup circuit.
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