Author: Beau Dure

The guy who wrote a bunch of soccer books and now runs a Gen X-themed podcast while substitute teaching and continuing to write freelance stuff.
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Curling, final day of group play

Posted on by Beau Dure

Canada and Sweden rule the ice, we’ll have one tiebreaker, and the USA went out in ugly fashion as Olympic round-robin play ended.

Date: 17-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Last day of group play

How U.S. fared: Do we have to mention the final women’s game? After several close losses, this one got away early. Erika Brown whiffed on a double takeout, one of several wayward shots in the first end, to give up four points in the first. South Korea stole one in the second. Another double takeout miss in the fifth gave South Korea a steal of two. Down 9-1 at the halfway point, Brown and company were limited to a single in the sixth. When South Korea scored two in the seventh, Brown conceded.

So a women’s team loaded with Olympic experience finished last. Their 1-8 record was a game worse than 2010, when current vice-skip Debbie McCormick was the hard-luck skip. Since Kari Erickson (with McCormick and current lead Ann Swisshelm) made the playoffs and finished fourth in 2002, the U.S. women have five total wins in three Olympics.

John Shuster’s team simply couldn’t score more than a single in any end. Down 5-2 after seven ends, Shuster hit a solid double takeout with his first shot in the eighth to stay in it but then missed an open draw and gave up a steal. The USA scored one in the ninth to make it 6-3 but couldn’t steal a triple in the 10th.

What happened:

Morning session (women):

Britain and Russia played a wild one. Tied 3-3 after seven, Britain scored four in the eighth. Russia answered with three to stay in it, but Eve Muirhead hit a gutsy double takeout in the 10th to win 9-6.

Japan made things interesting in a game with no blank ends and no steals. The hammer scored in each end. But Japan had three triples to China’s one, and when Japan’s Ayumi Ogasawara removed two stones with her last shot in the 10th, China conceded the hammer. Japan took the 8-5 win to forge a three-way tie for fourth.

So with one game left for everyone but the USA and Russia (both out of the running), it was unbeaten Canada clinching first, then Sweden (6-2) safely in the playoffs. Britain (5-3) led the three fourth-place teams (China, Japan, Switzerland) at 4-4. Denmark and South Korea were just out of it at 3-5.

Afternoon session (men):

Funny quirk of the standings — while the bottom two teams would miss the last women’s session, the top two teams were idle for the last men’s games. Sweden (8-1) and Canada (7-2) already knew they would be in different semifinals on a course to meet in the final.

That left China (6-2) and Britain (5-3) playing a vital game. China could avoid the tiebreakers with a win or Norway (also 5-3) loss. Britain would make at least the tiebreakers with a win. And that was, appropriately, the last game of the session to end. That gave the crowd some time to calm down from Russia’s finale, with the home team beating last-place Germany 8-7.

Denmark waited patiently for its opportunity, blanking two ends before scoring a double in the ninth to go up 5-3 on a sublime shot from Rasmus Stjerne Hansen. With Norway holding shot rock (closer to the button than the others), Hansen’s hammer nudged that rock just enough to make a Danish rock count. The hammer also stayed in play.

Meanwhile, Britain escaped a potential big score for China in the seventh and gave up only one for a 4-3 deficit. But David Murdoch left a draw just short in the eighth end, giving China a steal of one. Murdoch fought back with two in the ninth to tie it, but Liu Rui nailed his precise draw in the 10th for a 6-5 win.

So China (7-2) advanced to face Canada in the semifinals. Norway and Britain will play a tiebreaker on Tuesday for the right to face Sweden in the semifinal.

Evening session (women):

China and Switzerland had a near-playoff game — each with a 4-4 record, the winner clinching at least a tiebreaker and the loser eliminated. And the Swiss took a big lead early, stealing three when Wang Bingju missed a draw in the second. China came back with a double and a steal of one to cut the lead to 4-3. Swiss skip Mirjam Ott got two with a pretty promotion takeout (bump one of mine in, one of yours out) in the fifth.

In the eighth, China lined up three stones several feet apart. Swiss vice-skip Carmen Schaefer removed two and bumped the other out of the way. Wang Bingyu then came up short on her final draw, and Ott drew for three and a 9-4 lead. China scored two in the eighth and put three in the house to make Ott draw to the eight-foot for the win, which Ott did with ease for the 10-6 win and the playoff berth.

Britain (5-3) was playing to ensure a space in the semifinals without going through the tiebreaker. Eve Muirhead dominated the house in the fourth, leaving Denmark’s Lene Nielsen with a difficult hit and roll just to hold Britain to one. Nielsen couldn’t leave her shot in the house, giving up a steal of two. Denmark fought back with two, then Britain scored three in the seventh and stole another one in the eighth.

But Denmark, despite being mathematically eliminated, wasn’t done. They blanked the ninth end and scored three in the 10th to force the game to an extra end. And Muirhead missed a tricky hit-and-roll in the 11th to give Denmark the 8-7 stunner.

By that point, though, Britain could see the playoffs. Japan (also 4-4) needed a win to stay in contention. But Ayumi Ogasawara missed a draw in the fifth for a steal of one and a 5-2 deficit. A Japanese steal in the seventh trimmed the lead to 5-4, but Sweden scored two and stole another to lead 8-4 after nine ends. Japan played into the 10th but had to concede.

So Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and Britain advance to the semifinals. There will be no tiebreaker on the women’s side.

In the one game not affecting the playoffs. Canada got a bit of help in its bid to be the first team to go unbeaten in an Olympic women’s round-robin. South Korea scored doubles with its first two hammers to go up 4-1, then conceded six points over five ends without ever giving back the hammer. Down 9-4, South Korea conceded the 10th end.

Full results | Men’s standings | Women’s standings | Recaps with diagrams

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Biathlon, women’s mass start

Posted on by Beau Dure

These Olympics belong to Darya Domracheva and Belarus. Norway has been full of disappointment in the Russian mountains but picked up a surprising medal here, while American Susan Dunklee continued to chase U.S. history.

Date: 17-Feb

Sport: Biathlon

Event: Women’s mass start (12.5k)

Medalists: Darya Domracheva (Belarus), Gabriela Soukalova (Czech Republic), Tiril Eckhoff (Norway)

SportsMyriad projections: Darya Domracheva (Belarus), Tora Berger (Norway), Vita Semerenko (Ukraine)

How U.S. fared: Susan Dunklee, having a breakout performance in the Games, qualified among the elite 30 who could fit at the start and on the range. She made it through the first shoot cleanly with the lead pack and was in the top 10 on the second lap. She missed a shot at the second stage and still shot past several skiers who shot cleanly, pulling into the first standing stage in seventh place.

Once again, Dunklee missed one but stayed in the top 10. And again she missed at the fourth stage but stayed in touch with the higher places.

Finally, Dunklee finished 12th, 1:32.3 behind. That’s the best finish ever for a U.S. women’s biathlete. More to come in 2018?

What happened: A couple of slips early, with Norway’s Tora Berger and Russia’s Olga Zaitseva tumbling. Berger wasn’t far behind at the first shoot and shot cleanly, but she missed one at each of the last two shooting stages and wasn’t a factor.

Meanwhile, Darya Domracheva, the Belarus athlete bidding for her third gold medal of the Games, took off quickly on the second lap and opened a 15-second gap, shooting cleanly on each of the prone stages to maintain the advantage.

Exactly half the field (15 athletes) shot cleanly through two stages. Domracheva was clearly the fastest, with the Czech Republica’s Gabriela Soukalova and Finland’s Kaisa Makarainen.

Domracheva, who has the odd tendency to hit the middle target first and then go left before knocking down the two on the right, hesitated a bit on the last target in her first standing stage. She still knocked it down and went away cleanly. Soukalova was also clean, along with converted cross-country ski veteran Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle of Germany. Makarainen missed one and dropped down to sixth.

Soukalova pulled away on the fourth lap to be all alone in second, while Sachenbacher-Stehle was holding onto third ahead of the charging Makarainen.

Domracheva pulled into the final shooting stage all alone. Her first three were good. Then she went back to the right and put one way south of the target. Off to the penalty loop, but she would have company — Soukalova started shooting as Domracheva was finishing, and she also missed one. They still left the loop comfortably in first and second.

You’d think a biathlon veteran like Makarainen would have the edge in shooting over Sachenbacher-Stehle, who only switched to biathlon two years ago. But the German shot cleanly — 20-for-20 in the competition — and Makarainen missed one.

But flying into the picture was a young, relatively unheralded Norwegian — Tiril Eckhoff. The 23-year-old missed once in the prone shooting and steadily climbed through the field. She left the range in fourth place but raced past Sachenbacher-Stehle.

Domracheva had all day to celebrate down the stretch. Soukalova also was unchallenged, coming in with silver. Then came Eckhoff, pulling ahead to finish one place ahead of Sachenbacher-Stehle.

Makarainen plopped across in seventh. The Semerenko twins were disappointing — Valj in 13th (just behind the USA’s Susan Dunklee), Vita in 17th. Tora Berger was between them in 15th, only missing two shots but never getting up near the leaders. Slovakia’s Anastasiya Kuzmina, the top seed, missed five shots and finished 27th.

Full results

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medal projections, olympic sports, winter sports

Best/worst, Sochi medal projections vs. reality: Feb. 16

Posted on by Beau Dure

The USA and Norway made up for missteps elsewhere with Alpine skiing medals, the biathlon was postponed, and the Netherlands have produced a lot of really good speedskaters.

CURRENT PACE

Original projections: Norway 39, USA 35, Canada 30, Russia 26, Germany 23, Austria 22, South Korea 15, Netherlands 14, France 12, Switzerland 11, Sweden 10

If the rest of the projections were to come true, I will ride down the snowboardcross course on a trash can lid. But the medal count would be Russia 29, Canada 28, Norway 27, USA 27, Netherlands 24, Germany 21, Austria 21, Sweden 16, France 13, Switzerland 13, South Korea 9. And China, projected for 6, would have 9 as well.

UP

France (+2 today, +1 overall): Only four medal events were completed today, and France picked up bronze in two. Snowboardcross wasn’t a big surprise. The cross-country relay medal looked like it even shocked the team.

Netherlands (+1 today, +10 overall): Projected for gold and silver in speedskating. They took gold, silver, bronze and whatever you get for fourth. And they lead the medal count with 17. That’s 16 in speedskating and one in … well, short-track speedskating. We’re now just tallying the historical comparisons.

DOWN

Just Austria and Switzerland, who didn’t get projected Alpine skiing medals. Sure, Norway inexplicably missed out in the cross-country relay, but we would be piling on at this point. Besides, they got the projected Alpine medal (albeit with a different skier).

FULL TABLE

[gview file=”https://duresport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-medal-projections-feb16.pdf”%5D

HIGHLIGHTS

Best photo gallery: The Guardian captured several events at sunset.

Best perspective: “There are worse things in life than not winning. A lot worse.” – Lindsey Jacobellis, who has won every conceivable title except the Olympics.

Best NBC recruitment tool: They have a secret Starbucks shop.

Best phrase written by a Duke grad: Sarah Kwak, covering speedskating at SI, wins with the “Great Polyurethane Panic.”

Best reason not to be in Sochi: Lolo Jones passes along a video food review.

Most deserving of a spinoff TV show: Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.

Best reason to postpone an event: Can you see what you’re shooting?

https://twitter.com/PaulSonne/status/435075954000408576

Most haunting photos: Vladimir Putin visited injured Russian skicross skier Maria Komissarova in the hospital. Komissarova looks alert but in sad shape.

Worst day: Lindsey Jacobellis was once known as “Lucky Lindsey.” But first, she saw her friend and teammates knocked unconscious in qualifying. Then she failed to qualify for the final. World Championships, X Games and World Cup gold medals galore, but just one silver to show for her three Olympic appearances.

Strangest Games-ending injury: Arielle Gold missed the halfpipe competition because of this accident in training, which doesn’t occur when you’d expect. Did a gopher pop up out of the halfpipe?

Worst timing: Maybe they’re prepping the rest of the hotel for the Paralympics?

Most ominous delay of a response: “I will share everything I had in mind after Sochi is over.” – short-track speedskating gold medalist Viktor (nee Hyun-Soo) Ahn on his switch from South Korea to Russia.

Most esoteric ice dancing commentary: 

https://twitter.com/goddesspharo/status/435122977391521792

MONDAY’S PROJECTIONS

Biathlon, men’s mass start (rescheduled from Sunday): Martin Fourcade (France), Tarjei Boe (Norway), Emil Hegle Svendsen (Norway). Also considered: Andreas Birnbacher (Germany), Tim Burke (USA), Jakov Fak (Slovenia), Dominik Landertinger (Austria), Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic), Evgeny Ustyugov (Russia).

Fourcade has delivered so far, while Norway is really overdue.

Biathlon, women’s mass start: Darya Domracheva (Belarus), Tora Berger (Norway), Vita Semerenko (Ukraine). Also considered: Kaisa Makarainen (Finland)

Maybe Berger can sneak into another country’s camp and borrow some wax.

Bobsled, two-man: Beat Hefti (Switzerland), Francesco Friedrich (Germany), Alexander Zubkov (Russia). Also considered: Thomas Florschütz (Germany), Steven Holcomb (USA), Oskars Melbardis (Latvia), Lyndon Rush (Canada)

After the first two heats, Zubkov has a big lead over Hefti, who’s slightly ahead of Holcomb. Then it’s the third Canadian sled with Justin Kripps, Russia-2 and Latvia.

Figure skating, ice dancing: Davis/White (USA), Virtue/Moir (Canada), Bobrova/Soloviev (Russia). Also considered: Cappellini/Lanotte (Italy), Ilinykh/Katsalapov (Russia), Pechalat/Bourzat (France), Weaver/Poje (Canada)

As ordained, er, expected, Davis and White have the lead with a world record in the short program. Virtue and Moir are second but apparently first in the hearts of a lot of Canadians and English folks on Twitter. A Russian duo is indeed in third, but it’s Ilinykh/Katsalapov slightly ahead of Pechalat/Bourzat.

Freestyle skiing, men’s aerials: Qi Guangpu (China), Jia Zongyang (China), Travis Gerrits (Canada). Also considered: Alexei Grishin (Belarus), Anton Kushnir (Belarus)

Ski jumping, men’s team: Austria, Germany, Slovenia. Also considered: Norway, Poland.

Average finish on the large hill: Japan 8.5, Poland 15.5, Germany 19, Slovenia 19.25, Norway 20.8, Austria 21.8.

Average finish in both events: Japan 13.1, Poland 14.4, Austria 15.1, Germany 17.9, Norway 18.8, Slovenia 20.5.

Maybe Japan should be considered.

Snowboarding, men’s snowboardcross: Alex Pullin (Australia), Markus Schairer (Austria), Pierre Vaultier (France). Also considered: Tony Ramoin (France), Omar Visintin (Italy)

Just don’t let anyone get hurt.

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Curling, day 7

Posted on by Beau Dure

With one day of group play left, Sweden, Canada, China and Britain are in playoff position in each bracket. (Norway is tied with Britain on the men’s side.) The USA is running out the string.

Date: 16-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Day 7 of group play, with two men’s sessions and one women’s

How U.S. fared: John Shuster’s men played a back-and-forth thriller with Canada, stealing one in the eighth end for a 6-5 lead. Shuster was poised to limit Canada to a single in the ninth, but his last shot curled more than the one before it to his consternation, and Canada’s Brad Jacobs had a simple draw for two. Down one in the 10th but with the hammer, Shuster erred on his first shot, failing to get his rock near a Canadian rock close to the center. Brad Jacobs expertly froze his next shot at the center as well, leaving Shuster a difficult draw just to force an extra end.

usa-can-curl
Can you fit a rock in the button here? Neither could John Shuster.

Shuster gave it a good run, nudging the Canadian rock and leaving his own rock very close to the button. But Jacobs’ rock was ever so slightly closer, stealing one and taking the 8-6 win.

The schedulemakers gave us a USA-Canada doubleheader. The women’s game seemed like a mismatch — the USA was 1-6 coming in, while Canada was two games away from going unbeaten. But Erika Brown responded from a steal in the second to score three in the third, and the teams battled from there. Canada, its playoff place long secure, played with a bit of reckless abandon and misfired on occasion. Especially in the 10th — Brown left a stone near the button, and Jones’ hammer bumped into it a little short of the win. Tied 6-6, they went to an extra end.

One misplay gave Brown a chance to set up a steal. But her last rock sailed a couple of feet farther than she wanted, to the back of the four-foot circle.

usa-can-women
The red rock closest to the top needed to be in the blue circle in line with the other red rock.

Had she played it to the front, Jones would have needed a double takeout or an extraordinary draw for the win. Instead, she was able to follow the same path as Brown’s last rock, using that U.S. rock as an insurance backstop in case she was too heavy. She didn’t need to be perfect, but she was, winning by a couple of inches.

The U.S. women will play South Korea tomorrow for last place in the round-robin. Will we see alternate Allison Pottinger get some playing time?

John Shuster’s team did just that in the evening session, bringing Craig Brown (Erika’s brother) in place of vice-skip Jeff Isaacson to face Sweden. The tournament leaders scored three in the second end and stole one in the sixth to go up 5-2. Shuster could manage only a couple of singles in response, and Sweden took a 6-4 win.

What happened:

Morning session (men): Sweden moved to 7-1, momentarily ahead of idle China, with an 8-4 win over Russia, which conceded the 10th end.

The biggest game for playoff positioning was Britain (5-2) vs. Norway (3-3). Britain scored two in the ninth to tie the game 6-6 but relinquish the hammer to Norway. Britain couldn’t set up a steal, and Thomas Ulsrud made the simple takeout for the 7-6 win.

Afternoon session (women): Like Spinal Tap, a couple of games went to 11. The USA-Canada was one, and the erratic Swiss team got its second steal of the game in the 10th to take Japan to the extra frame. Japan got it right in the 11th for the 9-7 win.

Sweden-Russia also went down to the wire, with Sweden’s Maria Prytz clinching it on a clutch raise, bumping her stone dead on the button. Sweden had a second rock just a bit closer than Russia’s within the four-foot, good enough to score two and win 5-4.

The other game was all but over by the eighth end. South Korea couldn’t clear the traffic, and Denmark lined up three rocks across the top of the four-foot. Un Chi Gim had nowhere to go with her hammer, giving up three. They traded singles in the last three ends, leaving Denmark up 7-4.

Canada (8-0) and Sweden (6-2) have clinched playoff spots. China and Britain are tied at 4-3, ahead of Switzerland (4-4) and Japan (3-4). Game to watch tomorrow morning: Japan-China.

Evening session (men): The marquee game put China (6-1, second place) against Canada (6-2, third). China’s Liu Rui hit a difficult takeout for three in the fifth and stole one in the sixth when Brad Jacobs uncharacteristically missed an open draw. Canada made up the 6-3 gap by scoring two, stealing one in a complex eighth end, and stealing two more in the ninth. China finally made the hammer count in the 10th to tie it at 8-8, and we went to the extra end. Jacobs missed a double takeout, and China played a decent draw to give Jacobs only half of the button at which to aim.

“I think that’s there,” Jacobs said as he let his final shot go. And it was. Stopped perfectly in place for the 9-8 win.

While first-place Sweden met the USA (see above), other teams were fighting for survival. Denmark stayed afloat with a 6-3 win over Germany, stealing one in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

Norway, which has the loudest pants in sports, played a quiet game against Switzerland. Neither team scored more than a single, and Norway stole one in the seventh by forcing Switzerland to attempt a double takeout. Sven Michel only got one, and Norway had a 4-2 lead. Thomas Ulsrud made the clutch draw for a 5-3 win.

Sweden (8-1) and Canada (7-2) have clinched playoff spots and are coincidentally idle in the final session tomorrow. The game to watch is China (6-2) vs. Britain (5-3), with Norway (5-3) facing eliminated Denmark (3-5).

Full results | Men’s standings | Women’s standings | Recaps with diagrams

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Cross-country skiing, men’s relay

Posted on by Beau Dure

The now-familiar story: Great success for Sweden, horrible disappointment for Norway’s superstars. Russia got a crowd-pleasing silver, and France got a bronze no one expected.

Date: 16-Feb

Sport: Cross-country skiing

Event: Men’s 4x10k relay (two classical legs, two freestyle)

Medalists: Sweden, Russia, France

SportsMyriad projections: Norway, Sweden, Russia

How U.S. fared: Andy Newell was having a solid first leg, but something happened off-camera that dropped him all the way to 15th. He finished in some distress, tapping to Erik Bjornsen down 1:17.8. Bjornsen passed Poland and Belarus to move up to 13th, 2:15.0 off the lead.

In freestyle, Noah Hoffman hauled the USA into the top 10, passing Kazakhstan, Estonia and Canada. But they were a minute behind ninth-place Switzerland. Estonia came back to take 10th, and Simi Hamilton crossed the line 11th, 4:33.1 behind.

What happened: A couple of mishaps made the first leg interesting. Sweden’s Lars Nelson’s binding appeared to pop off his ski. Rather than continue on one ski a la John Cusack in Better Off Dead, he calmly got a replacement and got right back in the pack.

The second incident wreaked a little more havoc, with Germany’s Jens Filbrich getting tangled with Estonia’s Karel Tammjarv. Filbrich fell on a downhill section and had to see the pack race away as he scrambled to his feet.

Nelson and Finland’s Sami Jauhojaervi ripped away from the pack and bumped each other a bit in the last turn of the leg. Nelson gave Sweden an 0.3-second lead. France was within 10 seconds. Norway and Russia were not, nearly 30 seconds back.

The second leg saw a couple of packs settle into place. The leaders: Sweden, Finland, France. The chase pack: Russia, Czech Republic, Norway, Italy, Switzerland. Then Germany was struggling to catch that pack.

But 36-year-old Czech skier Lukas Bauer changed all that. The three-time Olympian broke away from the chase back and overhauled France for third at the halfway point of the race. Russia had no such response, and Norway slid backward — more than a minute down.

The freestyle skiers shook things up. At the front, Sweden’s Johann Olsson took off. Finland faded, with France and the Czech Republic overtaking through two of the 3.3k laps and several more passing on the next. Russia’s Alexander Legkov pounced as the packs split apart, scooting up to second. Martin Johnsrud Sundby put Norway back in striking range but fell back. At the third exchange: Sweden in first, Russia 14.3 seconds back, France 18.6, Italy 41.7, Czech Republic 42.1, Norway 59.2, Finland 1:09.3.

Sweden had Marcus Hellner, already a silver medalist here, in the anchor leg. Russia had Maxim Vylegzhanin, fourth in the Olympic skiathlon and a four-time World Championship medalist. France had the literally unknown — NBC’s encyclopedic Chad Salmela confessed he knew nothing about him — Ivan Perrillat Boiteux. Norway had 2010 Olympic star and nine-time world champion Petter Northug, but he had been struggling so far in these Games and had a look of disbelief as Sundby tapped him for the exchange.

To Salmela’s shock, Boiteux passed Vylegzhanin at the end of the second lap, right in front of Vylegzhanin’s home crowd. Northug creeped up into fifth but still had work to do.

Hellner took care of business easily, and a coach handed him a small Swedish flag for the run into the stadium. Vylegzhanin finally flew away from his unknown French racing companion as they headed into the stadium to give Russia second place, and Boiteux collapsed across the line in third as his French teammates mobbed him. Then came the disconsolate figure of Petter Northug, continuing Norway’s dreadful performance on cross-country skis.

 

Full results

1
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Alpine skiing: men’s super-G

Posted on by Beau Dure

Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, who tore his ACL in the World Championships super-G a year ago, shot down the hill for a big win. And it’s a huge day for the Americans — World Cup also-ran Andrew Weibrecht claimed his second Olympic medal while Bode Miller earned his sixth.

Updated with final results.

Date: 16-Feb

Sport: Alpine skiing

Event: Men’s super-G

Medalists: Kjetil Jansrud (Norway), Andrew Weibrecht (USA), Bode Miller (USA) and Jan Hudec (Canada) tied for bronze

SportsMyriad projections: Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway), Matthias Mayer (Austria), Patrick Küng (Switzerland)

How U.S. fared: Ted Ligety won the 2013 World Championship in this event, but that was a surprise. He’s much better in giant slalom. He had good speed early in this run but had a big skid and barely made it through a gate just as he hit a flatter section, giving up a lot of momentum. Through nine skiers, he stood third, but he would drop to 14th.

This was Bode Miller’s last chance to add to his collection of Olympic medals, and it’s safe to say he went for it. Riding the ragged edge of disaster all the way down and sometimes brushing the snow with his hand, Miller made it down with the lead through 13 skiers. He didn’t look happy with the run, but he brought the excitement if nothing else. Would it stand?

Travis Ganong, a surprise fifth place in the downhill, started 25th. He made it down with control but not speed, dropping 1.88 seconds behind the leader. He finished 23rd.

Andrew Weibrecht had a career race in this event in 2010, taking bronze. Starting 29th, he took an aggressive approach and startlingly led by 0.35 seconds at the first split. Then 0.33 at the second. With that much speed, you had to figure he could make a mistake, but he was still 0.20 ahead at the next split. He lost time down the stretch as the crowd roared in anticipation of the upset. His time: 1:18.44 — 30 seconds behind Jansrud but ahead of Miller and Hudec!

What happened: Another tough course for the skiers. The first three down the hill looked perplexed at the finish. Russia’s Alexander Glebov skidded on his side, stood up, pawed at the orange safety netting and yelled something we’ll guess was unfit for television.

Italy’s Peter Fill took the early lead. Countryman Christof Innerhofer, already with two medals here, shockingly skidded out in the first couple of gates, slamming a pole to the snow in frustration. Then came Miller to bump Fill out of first.

Austrians Max Franz and Ottmar Striedinger followed Miller and came so close to beating his time — Franz was 0.07 seconds back, Striedinger 0.02.

Then it was the Norwegian great Aksel Lund Svindal. Three medals in 2010, including gold in this event. The live NBC stream worked in a few ads and was late coming back to the action. We’ll assume he looked OK, but he came in 0.09 behind Miller in fourth place.

The other two Austrians faltered. Downhill champion Matthias Mayer skidded out, and Georg Streitberger was nowhere near the pace.

Swiss favorite Patrick Küng has been a little ill, and he was slower than Miller through the early splits. Küng finished ahead of the American. Ligety, that is — not Miller. Bode was busy telling interviewers he wasn’t too happy with his run, but we were running out of people who could catch him.

Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud took bronze in the downhill and had the fastest downhill time in the combined. Starting 21st, he was the last skier who had not just a chance to beat Miller but a good chance. He was within 0.16 of Miller early and closed to 0.04. Then 0.02. And at the last — 0.53 ahead of Miller! He punched the air and the snow. Miller gave a wry smile and hugged his wife.

The last of the top seeds were the Canadians. Jan Hudec had good speed early, went a little out of control at the end and raced across — 0.53 behind Jansrud. Yes, TIED with Bode Miller in silver position.

Erik Guay, on the other hand, lost plenty of speed early and never caught up, then missed a late gate to get the dreaded DNF. That left seven of the top 30 to go, including two Americans. Occasionally, someone in that group will pull a stunner, and Weibrecht did just that.

One skier outside the top 30, the Czech Republic’s Ondrej Bank, looked like a potential fly in the ointment and indeed had some fast splits. He worked his way into the top 10, only 0.44 behind Miller and Hudec.

Quotes: From before Jansrud’s run …

After Weibrecht’s run …

Full results

2
olympic sports, winter sports

Best/worst, Sochi medal projections vs. reality: Feb. 15

Posted on by Beau Dure

Same story in several respects — disappointment for Norway’s cross-country skiers, disappointment for the USA’s speedskaters, the occasional Russian surprise, great hockey, and a 41-year-old seven-time Olympian winning his first Olympic medal.

OK, the last one’s new. And so is Poland winning two gold medals in the same day.

(New to the daily recap today: Sunday’s projections, at the bottom.)

CURRENT PACE

Original projections: Norway 39, USA 35, Canada 30, Russia 26, Germany 23, Austria 22, South Korea 15, Netherlands 14, France 12, Switzerland 11, Sweden 10

If the rest of the projections were to come true, I will invest my remaining money in a high-growth fund. But the medal count would be Russia 29, Norway 28, Canada 28, USA 27, Netherlands 23, Austria 22, Germany 21, Sweden 16, Switzerland 14, France 11, South Korea 9. Also: China, projected for 6, is up to 9.

UP

Poland (+1 today, +2 overall): Projected for ski jumping silver, and the gold there was no shock. But speedskating?

Germany (+2 today, -2 overall): Projected for no medals today but picked them up in Alpine skiing (not a big surprise) and cross-country skiing (a bit).

DOWN

Switzerland (-2 today, +3 overall): Missed projected bronze medals in Alpine skiing and ski jumping.

USA (-1 today, -8 overall): Again, it’s the speedskaters — this time, short-tracker J.R. Celski joined Shani Davis. Celski tripped over a marker in a qualifying heat. The good news: Matt Antoine got a mildly surprising bronze in skeleton. But even there, the USA couldn’t escape the bizarre — John Daly was in contention until his sled came out of the groove at the star.

Norway (-1 today, -11 overall): Again, it’s cross-country skiing, where the women’s relay was a heavy favorite on paper but watched the race get away from them.

FULL TABLE

[gview file=”https://duresport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-medal-projections-feb15.pdf”%5D

HIGHLIGHTS

Best game: USA over Russia in the big men’s hockey showdown. It was the biggest win for the USA since they beat Canada in 2010, going on to … oh … sorry.

Best perspective on Kasai’s medal

Second-best perspective on Kasai’s medal

Best perspective on Poland’s medals

Biggest news in Olympic sports not in Russia: Pole vault record gone after 21 years.

Best romantic gesture: Figure skater Jason Brown to ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson. (And yes, she responded – click on this tweet and scroll through.)

But a short time later: Um, Sarah?

https://twitter.com/schendrickson/status/434661448854556672

Most detailed biathlon preview: You know it’s from real biathlon.

Best visit: It’s Vernon Davis time.

Most surprising look at the world’s Oly interests: This Facebook buzz graphic shows us that curling is big in Argentina. Biathlon is big in Europe … and Algeria?

Most emphatic declaration of intent: Finland goalie Noora Raty is done with women’s hockey. But she’s open to playing in a men’s league.

Best proof that you don’t mess with figure skaters: Jeremy Abbott has one message for his detractors:

Best way to handle homework: Get it all done on the plane across the ocean, as figure skater Polina Edmunds did.

Best thing I don’t miss about covering the Olympics live: The “mixed zone.”

Best journalism/grammar quip: One former colleague to another …

Most candid assessment: Shani Davis is sorry to be having a dismal Olympics just when he finally felt the full support of the country. And he’s worried about his team: “We have no medals, man. We have none. The way things are looking, we might not get any.”

Worst general breakdown: Again, US Speedskating.

Worst time to miss the finish line, literally: This is why British skater Elise Christie was disqualified for the second time in two races. (She’s really only a strong contender in the other distance, 1,000 meters.)

Worst time to have “Innrømmer smørretabbe”: The Norwegian women’s cross-country team. That apparently means they had a wax mistake.

Worst parental support: Martin Johnsrud Sundby’s mom was in studio to watch her son. Maybe that’s a bad idea.

Worst thing to hear after a super-G race: “There is no snow at the bottom. It’s not funny anymore. This is a disaster.” – Lara Gut

Worst injury: Best wishes to Russia’s Maria Komissarova, who sustained a spinal fracture in skicross training.

Worst IOC overreach (today): Sure, you can have all the perishable flowers you want, but a piece of the big Russian meteorite? Nyet! (At least, not yet.)

SUNDAY’S PROJECTIONS 

Alpine skiing, men’s super-G: Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway), Matthias Mayer (Austria), Patrick Küng (Switzerland). Also considered: Christof Innerhofer (Italy), Ted Ligety (USA), Matteo Marsaglia (Italy), Bode Miller (USA).

Still keeping faith in Svindal.

Biathlon, men’s mass start: Martin Fourcade (France), Tarjei Boe (Norway), Emil Hegle Svendsen (Norway). Also considered: Andreas Birnbacher (Germany), Tim Burke (USA), Jakov Fak (Slovenia), Dominik Landertinger (Austria), Ondrej Moravec (Czech Republic), Evgeny Ustyugov (Russia).

Fourcade has delivered so far, while Norway is really overdue.

Cross-country, men’s relay: Norway, Sweden, Russia. Also considered: Czech Republic, Italy.

Again — Norway is overdue.

Snowboarding, women’s snowboardcross: Maelle Ricker (Canada), Dominique Maltais (Canada), Lindsey Jacobellis (USA). Also considered: Helene Olafsen (Norway), Chloe Trespeuch (France).

We haven’t seen any of these athletes yet.

Speedskating, women’s 1,500 meters: Ireen Wüst (Netherlands), Lotte van Beek (Netherlands), Brittany Bowe (USA). Also considered: Heather Richardson (USA), Yuliya Skokova (Russia).

Well, the Dutch picks look sound.

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olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Ski jumping, men’s large hill

Posted on by Beau Dure

The Olympic ski jumping venue was built with all sorts of wind-breaking measures in place, but there’s only so much we humans can do about the elements. So leave it to the veteran of veterans — seven-time Olympian Noriaki Kasai — to figure everything out and take the first individual Olympic medal of his career (he had a team silver in 1994) while normal hill winner Kamil Stoch won his second gold of the Games.

Date: 15-Feb

Sport: Ski jumping

Event: Men’s large hill

Medalists: Kamil Stoch (Poland), Noriaki Kasai (Japan), Peter Prevc (Slovenia)

SportsMyriad projections: Gregor Schlierenzauer (Austria), Kamil Stoch (Poland), Simon Ammann (Switzerland)

How U.S. fared: Seems a little cruel to let someone jump and then tell him his suit is too big, disqualifying him, but that’s what happened to Anders Johnson.

Nick Fairall wasn’t too far out of the top 30, jumping 119.5 meters with a wind disadvantage to finish 35th. Nick Alexander was 48th at 111.5 meters.

What happened: Even with wind adjustments figured into the scoring, several of the top 10 ski jumpers in the world couldn’t figure things out in their first jump, taking themselves out of contention. Four-time gold medalist Simon Ammann barely made the top 30 to qualify for the second jump, while other seeded jumpers missed the cut.

Germany’s Severin Freund restored order with a jump of 138 meters in near-zero wind. Austrian favorite Gregor Schlierenzauer looked happy with his first jump, but he was 5.5 meters behind Freund and lost points on wind and style, good only for 14th.

Then it was 41-year-old Noriaki Kasai of Japan, still looking to improve on his fifth-place finish in the 1994 Olympics (normal hill). And that was his second trip to the Olympics. (This is his seventh.) He has a couple of World Championship medals in his career and plenty of World Cup wins, including one this season in a ski flying (really large hill) event. He certainly flew here — 139 meters with excellent style points — to take the lead.

Slovenia’s Peter Prevc jumped into contention at 135 meters. Then came the normal hill gold medalist, Poland’s Kamil Stoch, who leaped as far as Kasai with slightly better wind and style points.

The top three of Stoch, Kasai and Freund had a sizable gap on Prevc and a large advantage over the rest of the pack heading into the second jump.

The second jump saw a few early jumpers go all over the place — one drifted far to the left, and Russia’s Dimitry Vassiliev caught some nice wind to sail 144.5 meters. He got few style points for the landing, just doing all he could stay upright, but the crowd enjoyed the flight. Officials reset the gate a couple of jumpers later, shortening the ramp (they factor that into the scoring along with the wind).

Schlierenzauer moved up a few places on his second jump and stood third, behind Norway’s Anders Fannemel and Germany’s Marinus Kraus, until the last four took their shots …

Prevc: 131 meters from a low gate with bad wind. So certainly not the farthest jump of the round but the best so far. First place with three to go, and Schlierenzauer was out.

Freund: Not … quite. 129.5 meters in minimal wind. The totals came in, and he bent in two and hung his head when he saw the scores, slotting into second behind Prevc. That clinched a medal for the Slovenian and left the German jumper with a nervous wait.

Kasai: The grand old man of ski jumping jumped 133.5 meters and was mobbed by teammates as soon as he skidded to a halt. The scores put him first, clinching a medal at age 41!

Would it be gold, or would Kamil Stoch get the normal hill/large hill double? Stoch was a bit shorter at 132.5, and the wind was similar. Would his lead stand? Yes … by 1.3 points. Stoch celebrated while Kasai was carried off on his teammates’ shoulders.

Full results

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olympic sports

Sochi recap: Curling, day 6

Posted on by Beau Dure

The Canadian women continue to dominate an otherwise even women’s competition, where three teams headed into the morning session tied for second and only one (Sweden) won (barely). China and Sweden lead on the men’s side, while Canada climbed into a third-place tie with Britain.

Date: 15-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Day 6 of group play, with two women’s sessions and one men’s

How U.S. fared: Byes in the morning and afternoon sessions, with the women in action in the evening. Erika Brown’s team played one of its best games and took a 6-5 lead after eight ends. Sweden blanked the ninth to take the hammer. Brown got some rocks close to the center and left Sweden a very difficult shot for two. Maria Prytz’s final shot nudged a few rocks around, and the measuring gizmo was wheeled out. Sweden’s second stone in the 10th was just a hair closer. Sweden took sole possession of second place, while the USA was formally eliminated at 1-6.

What happened:

Morning session (women): Canada remained unbeaten, giving up a steal in the fifth end to fall 3-2 behind Japan but controlling the second half of the game to win 8-6.

Britain had the most interesting game, giving up a steal of two in the ninth end to fall behind South Korea 8-7. Eve Muirhead hit two clutch takeouts to score three in the 10th and win 10-8, remaining in the three-way tie for second.

China joined that three-way tie by handing Sweden its second loss. Sweden tied it 6-6 in the ninth, but Yue Qingshang hit a massive double takeout to remove both guards midway through the 10th and leave a relatively simple series of takeouts for the win.

Afternoon session (men): Co-leaders China and Sweden won without throwing their last rocks, beating Russia (9-6) and Germany (8-4).

Switzerland, already out of contention with five losses, removed Denmark from contention by scoring four in the first and three in the eighth. Denmark, down 9-3, conceded the last two ends.

Canada and Britain had the marquee matchup, and Canada took a 4-2 lead with a triple in the fourth. Britain battled back and had the hammer in the 10th, down 6-5. But Canada created a bit of traffic in the house, leaving Britain’s David Murdoch attempting a double takeout for the win — or at least an extra end. Murdoch put a lot of rocks in motion, but Canada’s red rock was ever so slightly closer to the center than Britain’s yellow. Vital win for Canada.

Evening session (women): Unbeaten Canada constricted Russia, getting five points between the third and fifth ends and forcing three straight blank ends. Canada then set up two rocks in scoring position, forcing Russia to take just one in the ninth. Russia was never going to get three in the 10th, and Canada took the 5-3 win.

Britain gave up three to Switzerland in the sixth end. Eve Muirhead got back to 7-6 but no closer, as Mirjam Ott hit the clutch takeout with the hammer in the 10th for the 8-6 win.

China had a chance to stay in second against 1-5 Denmark, which missed with the hammer in the eighth to let China take a 6-5 lead. But the Danes fought back with a couple of remarkable takeouts to score three in the ninth. China needed two in the 10th to force an extra end but gave up the steal instead, coming nowhere close on the hammer. 9-6 Denmark.

Full results | Men’s standings | Women’s standings | Recaps with diagrams

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