Tag: freestyle skiing

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Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, women’s halfpipe

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Surely, somewhere, Sarah Burke is proud. She didn’t live to see it, but her sport made its Olympic debut with aplomb. The USA’s Maddie Bowman may have been overlooked while all this happened because figure skating and women’s hockey were going on, but watch for her on NBC tonight. Date: 20-Feb Sport: Freestyle skiing Event: Women’s halfpipe Medalists: Maddie Bowman (USA), Marie Martinod (France), Ayana Onozuka (Japan) SportsMyriad projections: Virginie Faivre (Switzerland), Roz Groenewoud (Canada), Maddie Bowman (USA) How U.S. fared: Annalisa Drew was first up for the Americans and landed a 1080, not a common trick here. Yet she … Continue reading Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, women’s halfpipe

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Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, men’s skicross

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The wildest event of the Olympics — think snowboardcross but with more moving parts that can get tangled — lived up to that distinction. When all was done, France had the sweep. Date: 20-Feb Sport: Freestyle skiing Event: Men’s skicross Medalists: Jean Frederic Chapuis (France), Arnaud Bovolenta (France), Jonathan Midol (France) SportsMyriad projections: Alex Fiva (Switzerland), Dave Duncan (Canada), Andreas Matt (Austria) How U.S. fared: John Teller was 20th in the seeding run (like qualifying, except that everyone qualifies) and got drawn into a tough heat in the first elimination round. He was fourth out of the start but picked his way … Continue reading Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, men’s skicross

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Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, women’s aerials

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Alla Tsuper of Belarus got the medal she’s been chasing for 16 years. Date: 14-Feb Sport: Freestyle skiing Event: Women’s aerials Medalists: Alla Tsuper (Belarus), Xu Mengtao (China), Lydia Lassila (Australia) SportsMyriad projections: Xu Mengtao (China), Lydia Lassila (Australia), Danielle Scott (Australia) How U.S. fared: Ashley Caldwell had the highest score in qualifying at 101.25. She went for a big jump in the first final, which cut the field from 12 to eight, but she slammed her back on the landing. Her 72.80 was not enough to advance. Emily Cook squeaked through qualifying at 80.01 and was again just above the … Continue reading Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, women’s aerials

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Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, women’s slopestyle

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Another big day for North American action sports athletes, with Devin Logan taking silver between Canadians Dara Howell and Kim Lamarre. But the competition had a lot of crashes — one horrific. Date: 11-Feb Sport: Freestyle skiing Event: Women’s slopestyle Medalists: Dara Howell (Canada), Devin Logan (USA), Kim Lamarre (Canada) SportsMyriad projections: Kaya Turski (Canada), Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen (Norway), Keri Herman (USA) How U.S. fared: Keri Herman squeaked through qualification and was all smiles at the start of the final, but her first run was a mess just a few seconds in, as she lost her balance on a rail and landed awkwardly. The rest of that … Continue reading Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, women’s slopestyle

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Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, men’s moguls

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Oh Canada. The two big favorites came through, and Russia picked up a surprise bronze. The two American contenders were undone by catastrophe and conservative jumps. Date: 10-Feb Sport: Freestyle skiing Event: Men’s moguls Medalists: Alex Bilodeau (Canada), Mikael Kingsbury (Canada), Alexandr Smyshlyaev (Russia) SportsMyriad projections: Mikael Kingsbury (Canada), Alex Bilodeau (Canada), Patrick Deneen (USA) How U.S. fared: Bradley Wilson got to the first final round (20 skiers) but crashed on his first landing. Incredibly, he popped up and still posted a fast time, but the damage to his score was done, and he didn’t advance. Patrick Deneen, the 2009 world champion, bailed on his first qualification round … Continue reading Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, men’s moguls

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Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, women’s moguls

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The Canadian Dufour-Lapointe sisters are the moguls of women’s moguls. They finished 1-2, just ahead of defending champion Hannah Kearney. Date: 8- Feb Sport: Freestyle skiing Event: Women’s moguls Medalists: Justine Dufour-Lapointe (Canada), Chloe Dufour-Lapointe (Canada), Hannah Kearney (USA) SportsMyriad projections: Hannah Kearney (USA), Justine Dufour-Lapointe (Canada), Heather McPhie (USA) How U.S. fared: McPhie, who had to get through a qualifying round in the morning, was unlucky 13th in the first round of the finals, missing out on Round 2. Kearney took a basic “survive and advance” approach in that first round with a good but not great run, good for seventh place. Then she blasted her … Continue reading Sochi recap: Freestyle skiing, women’s moguls

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2014 medal projections: Jan. 14 update

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Time for a few tweaks given the results (and untimely injuries) of late — and when you add it all up, we have a new leader: Alpine skiing: Lindsey Vonn’s absence shakes things up a bit and pretty well insures the USA won’t come near its total of eight medals in 2010. Ted Ligety (third overall) and Mikaela Shiffrin are still favorites, and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal (second overall; downhill and super-G leader) is still as dominant as ever. Changes: Men’s downhill: Erik Guay (CAN) up to silver, Klaus Kröll (AUT) down to considered, Adrien Theaux (FRA) up to considered Men’s giant slalom: … Continue reading 2014 medal projections: Jan. 14 update