Tag: sochi 2014

olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Biathlon, men’s individual

Posted on by Beau Dure

France’s Martin Fourcade took his second gold medal of these Olympic Games. That was expected. Silver for Germany’s Erik Lesser was not. Bronze for Russia’s Evgeniy Garanichev defied all reason. And the USA’s Lowell Bailey had the best U.S. finish ever with a solid eighth-place run.

Date: 13-Feb

Sport: Biathlon

Event: Men’s individual (20k)

Medalists: Martin Fourcade (France), Erik Lesser (Germany), Evgeniy Garanichev (Russia)

SportsMyriad projections: Martin Fourcade (France), Dominik Landertinger (Austria), Emil Hegle Svendsen (Norway)

How U.S. fared: Tim Burke, harboring faint but plausible medal hopes coming in, was the first U.S. athlete on the course, starting 29th. Lowell Bailey, also with a solid World Cup record, started 58th. Then the less experienced guys — Leif Nordgren 62nd, Russell Currier 79th.

Bailey actually got some screen time on the international feed, zipping cleanly through his fourth shooting stage. He missed one on the day and went through the next checkpoint in eighth place and finished the same way, one place behind medal favorite Svendsen. No one left on the course had a shot at displacing him. He wound up 26 places ahead of Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

Burke missed four shots, all in standing stages, to finish 44th — 4:49.5 off the pace. Currier also missed four, all early, and came in 50th.

Nordgren implausibly missed all five shots in a prone stage. He finished 83rd.

What happened: This is the toughest of the biathlon events — five laps of 4k, with a shooting stage after each of the first four. If you miss, you can’t just fly around a penalty loop and make up time — each miss adds one minute to your time.

And it’s another event with athletes going one at a time. Some contenders’ starting positions:

  • Svendsen 9
  • Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (Norway) 15
  • Simon Eder (Austria) 16
  • Landertinger 19
  • M. Fourcade 31

The early surprise was Lithuania’s Tomas Kaukenas. He started 10th, and yet his split times kept holding up as the contenders went past. Shooting cleanly on the first three stages didn’t hurt. His best World Cup career finish: 22nd. This season? 40th.

Then came France’s Jean Guillaume Beatrix, the surprise bronze medalist in the pursuit. He had never finished in the top 10 in the grueling individual discipline, and yet he shot cleaning and took over the third-stage lead from Kaukenas.

Bjoerndalen, the 40something still chasing career medal records, took himself out of contention with his gun, missing one at each stage. Defending champion Svendsen took himself out with his skis, missing just once but not even taking the lead through the first nine starters.

Kaukenas finally blew up at the last stage, missing three. Eder shot cleanly there, missing just one total, and ripped through the fourth shoot with the lead.

But another stunner emerged. Russia’s Evgeniy Garanichev, the first skier on the course, missed one shot and set the early pace at 50:06.2. With no other times to compare, no one knew just how fast Garanichev had churned through the soft snow on a warm day. When Eder plowed across the finish line 3.3 seconds slower, we got the hint. Garanichev is a good sprinter but had never finished in the top seven of a World Cup individual.

Landertinger had shot cleanly. But he came into the stadium and couldn’t beat Garanichev or Eder, taking a precarious third position.

And he knew that wouldn’t hold against the masterful Martin Fourcade. He missed once and was a picture of determination as he knocked down the final five targets and raced out for his final lap. He finally removed Garanichev from first place, coming in at 49:31.7, 34.5 seconds faster than the Russian.

Germany’s Erik Lesser, starting 41st, at least had a better World Cup resume than Garanichev. His clean shooting put him in the mix, ahead of Fourcade at the fourth-shooting checkpoint. The German had coaches around the course to yell at him as he went by — possibly a blessing, possibly a curse. Lesser was never going to match Fourcade’s speed, but he did not Garanichev down to third and shoved Eder off the podium.

Half the field was still on the course, but no one was going to catch Fourcade, Lesser and Garanichev. The two Austrians, Eder and Landertinger, were next. Then the surprising Beatrix and disappointing Svendsen, who clearly isn’t in top form this week.

Quote: “Oh Lowell Bailey – well done. Plays in a band with his father. Might have something to sing about now.” – commentator on the international feed

Full results

0
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Cross-country, women’s 10k classical

Posted on by Beau Dure

You don’t usually see an Olympic cross-country race in short sleeves and tank tops, but that’s what we had here. And in the end, it was a Polish great with a broken foot — Justyna Kowalczyk — surviving the heat to take gold, while 15k skiathlon winner Marit Bjoergen faded and was unable to add to her collection of eight Olympic medals.

Date: 13-Feb

Sport: Cross-country

Event: Women’s 10k classical

Medalists: Justyna Kowalczyk (Poland), Charlotte Kalla (Sweden), Therese Johaug (Norway)

SportsMyriad projections: Marit Bjoergen (Norway), Justyna Kowalczyk (Poland), Heidi Weng (Norway)

How U.S. fared: Sprint finalist Sophie Caldwell didn’t seem to be wearing anything under her race bib. She dressed appropriately and went out fast — through the first 13 skiers, she was second-fastest. Holly Brooks’ time was 7.7 seconds behind her. Ida Sargent had the last start among the Americans and slid into place just ahead of Brooks. Final places: Caldwell 32nd, Sargent 34th, Brooks 35th.

The best race was Sadie Bjornsen’s. The 24-year-old beat several consistent contenders and finished 18th, 1:41.9 behind the winner.

What happened: The favorites all started in the middle of the pack on the warm day for this race against the clock, with each skier taking off at a 30-second interval. If the snow got slushy as the day wore on, the lower-seeded skiers would need to deal with it.

The top contenders were all within a group of five — Poland’s Justyna Kowalczyk started 43rd, Norway’s Marit Bjoergen 45th and Norway’s Therese Johaug 46th. And it was indeed Kowalczyk setting the pace at the 2.2k mark at 5:20. Bjoergen came across just 1.9 seconds back, then Johaug 3.2 back. Two more Norwegians were unsurprisingly in the mix — Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen (starting 44th) and Heidi Weng (42nd). No one else was close.

But by the 5k mark, Weng had fallen back. And Kowalczyk extended her lead over the Norwegians — 9.1 seconds over Bjoergen. Sweden’s Charlotte Falla, starting 40th, slipped ahead of Johaug. Jacobsen, whose brother passed away just as the Games began, had some sort of untelevised mishap and fell 50 seconds back.

Bjoergen came through a 6k checkpoint just ahead of Kowalczyk, but that quickly changed. The Polish skier was digging deep at the 8k mark, and it paid off. When Bjoergen labored up the hill, the Norwegian favorite came across the time check 19.9 seconds back, just ahead of Falla and Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. Johaug was the only other skier within striking distance — 4.7 seconds separated third from fifth.

Saarinen was the first of the contenders to finish, taking the lead at 28.48.1. Then came Kalla, furiously double-poling down the stretch and drafting behind Russia’s Yulia Tchekaleva. Kalla took the lead, 11.9 seconds ahead of Saarinen.

Bjoergen looked “defeated,” in the words on NBC’s excitable Chad Salmela. As he said that, one of Bjoergen’s skis slipped a little on the uphill.

Then came Kowalczyk, pushing for every last second. She beat Kalla’s time by 18.4 seconds and collapsed into the snow. The leaders: Kowalczyk, Kalla, Saarinen — with two contending Norwegians coming in.

Bjoergen, one of the top skiers ever in this sport, came in pushing just for bronze. She fell 3.1 seconds short.

Johaug was the last skier who could affect the podium, sprinting to bump off Saarinen. It went down to the wire, but Johaug got it by two seconds.

With that, Kowalczyk broke down in tears, overwhelmed by her accomplishment. And why not?

Full results

0
medal projections, olympic sports, winter sports

Best/worst, Sochi medal projections vs. reality: Feb. 12

Posted on by Beau Dure

The judging at the Olympics is difficult to follow. Decisions are made for arcane reasons, and it’s hard for those of us watching at home to discern any consistency.

But enough about women’s hockey. Onto the medal updates …

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, the final medal count would be: Norway 34, USA 30, Canada 29, Russia 29, Austria 23, Netherlands 20, Germany 19, Sweden 13, Switzerland 13, France 12, South Korea 10

DOWN

Germany (-2 today, -4 overall): Strange to say Germany’s “down” when you see them ranked first at any news site that ranks countries by gold medals rather than total medals. And it’s not that a lot of German athletes are horribly disappointing. It’s just that they were projected for a lot of medals in particular events. Today it was doubles luge, where they picked up one (gold) instead of two, and Maria Hoefl-Riesch didn’t medal in the downhill.

South Korea (-1 today, -5 overall): Percentage-wise, they’re easily the disappointment of the Games so far. Projected for six medals at this point, and they’ve got one. Things aren’t going well in speedskating for the Korean team or …

USA (-1 today, -5 overall): Shani Davis was favored to win his third straight gold at 1,000 meters. He wasn’t even close to the podium. The better news: The snowboarders picked up the projected gold and bronze in the halfpipe, even if they weren’t exactly the projected names.

UP

Netherlands (+2 today, +6 overall): Always good in speedskating, but now it’s getting a little ridiculous. They’ve won eight of a possible nine medals in the men’s events, then two more in the women’s races. That’s all 10 of their medals.

Switzerland (+2 today, +2 overall): Right on target with two projected medals coming into today, then an unexpected gold (one of the two) and bronze in the women’s downhill.

RIGHT ON TARGET

Australia: Projected for one medal so far, a silver in women’s halfpipe. And that’s what they got.

HIGHLIGHTS

Funniest video: “Videobomb” doesn’t do justice to what Todd Lodwick did to NBC’s Randy Moss. The Nordic combined veteran walked behind Moss’s back when the commentator was doing a stand-up … about Lodwick. So Lodwick got in the camera shot behind him and punctuated the unsuspecting Moss’s report with a few gestures, shrugs and smiles. No one let Moss in on the joke until the end. See it yourself.

Best shot: See the curling recap to see how Canada’s Jennifer Jones hit something that would baffle a physicist. If only curling had style points …

Best finish: Switzerland-Latvia hockey … 0-0 … 0-0 … 0-0 … going to overti- … 1-0!!!

Best throw: Do Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir get credit for landing the first quadruple Salchow throw in Olympic pairs history? The official results say yes. Writers don’t seem to be sure. She made it around four times but two-footed the landing.

Best payoff from cattle sale: Kaitlyn Farrington’s parents sold cattle to finance her snowboarding career. Now she’s a gold medalist. And now she’s going to “dance her face off.” Sounds more painful than crashing in the halfpipe.

Best explanation of a tie: Olympic stats guru Bill Mallon tells us why it wouldn’t make any sense to do 1,000ths of a second in Alpine skiing.

Most pressing question for snowboarding pundits: In the slopestyle, some folks apparently complained that judges were giving more of a reward for clean landings than they were for big tricks. Is that also why Torah Bright is on the halfpipe podium and Hannah Teter isn’t?

Best explanation of unusual results: “(It) happens.” — Marit Bjoergen

Most quotable commentator: Johnny Weir. He and Tara Lipinski deduced that the French entry in the pairs competition was trying to portray an angel falling from heaven. “It’s not easy to grab someone by the hips after they’ve fallen from heaven.” Can he and Lipinski take over as American Idol judges?

Most well-rounded bobsledder: Johnny Quinn is a former pro football player and nationally ranked Halo player. You may know him from breaking down his bathroom door.

Mightiest fall: Norwegian cross-country skier Petter Northug dominated in Whistler four years ago — gold in the distinctly different events of team sprint and 50k classical, relay silver, and individual spring bronze. And he has been dominant in World Championships and the World Cup since then. This year? Dropped from his next event.

Worst officials: The referees didn’t cost the U.S. women’s hockey team the game against Canada today. The USA’s failure to match Canada’s intensity took care of that. But the officials just flat-out stunk.

Worst bureaucratic overreach: Take off that black armband, Norway!

Worst teammates: All is not well in German luge.

We knew it was warm in Sochi, but …: Maybe Lebanese skier Jackie Chamoun should put a shirt on. (OK, these photos were shot a while ago. But now people want to strip to show support for her. Anyway — the video in that link is absolutely NSFW.)

FULL TABLE

[gview file=”https://duresport.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-medal-projections-feb12.pdf”%5D

 

4
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Figure skating, pairs

Posted on by Beau Dure

Russia, Russia. Then Russia, Russia. The Olympic hosts really enjoyed this night, as their two figure skating pairs were magnificent. Canadian and American pairs had their moments, while Germany’s four-time world champions skidded to bronze.

Date: 12-Feb

Sport: Figure skating

Event: Pairs, free skate

Medalists: Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (Russia), Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov (Russia), Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (Germany)

SportsMyriad projections: Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov (Russia), Aliona Savchenko/Robin Szolkowy (Germany), Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford (Canada)

How U.S. fared: Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir went for it once again. Depending on your definition of “landed,” they’re the first pair to land a quadruple Salchow throw in the Olympics. Castelli two-footed the landing but was given credit for it. They had a couple more bobbles on the way to a ninth-place finish.

Felicia Zhang and Nathan Barthomay weren’t as technically dazzling but skated cleanly, moving up from 14th in the short program to 12th overall.

What happened: A couple of favorites faltered. Canada’s Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, fifth after the short program, had a fall that removed them from contention. China’s 16-year-old Chang Peng fell and had several more problems as she and Hao Zhang dropped down the standings.

Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch took up the mantle for Canada, building momentum through a clean and flowing program that had Moore-Towers jumping up and down on the ice as the final notes of the music sounded. That performance was the best before the Big Four took the ice.

The Big Four started with the surprise — Russia’s Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov, who had the thinnest resume of the final group. In October, they were a distant third behind their compatriots and Moore-Towers/Moscovitch at Skate America. Not this time. Skating to some music from The Addams Family, the young Russians nailed every element in their program, easily moving into the lead.

That was the warmup for the favorites, Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov. They also hit absolutely everything in an athletic program set to Jesus Christ Superstar. Not only did they get great scores for their elements, but their “component” scores were through the roof — everything at least a 9.46, with a 9.96 for “interpretation timing.” Home-crowd boost? Maybe a little, but no one could deny their greatness. They took the lead over Stolbova and Klimov as the Russian crowd exulted in the performances of their favorites.

Good luck following that, Qing Pang and Jian Tong! They botched their first combination jump — a planned double-double that turned into a double-single — but rebounded with tremendous composure. They slid into a tentative third place with one pair to go.

That pair was the four-time world champion German duo of Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy. The daring duo, in second place after their fun Pink Panther short program, hit trouble right away. Szolkowy tumbled after the first jump in a planned triple-triple combination. They bounced back with aplomb before heading into what NBC commentator Johnny Weir called a gutsy decision — a triple Salchow throw at the very end of the program. Savchenko flew up, spun, then landed with a nasty thud. Their component scores — and their short program — kept them on the podium.

Quote: “It’s not easy to grab someone by the hips after they’ve fallen from heaven.” – NBC’s Johnny Weir on the French pair of Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres.

Full results

0
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Curling, day 3

Posted on by Beau Dure

The U.S. men’s drought is over at last. The U.S. women are still winless.

Date: 12-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Day 3 of group play, with two men’s sessions and one women’s.

How U.S. fared: Strange game for the U.S. men, but they’ll take it. John Shuster only had the hammer twice in 10 ends. Denmark got three with the hammer in the first end, Shuster answered with two, and then we saw either a blank or a U.S. steal for six straight ends. Denmark finally scored two in the ninth end to cut the lead to 7-5, but Shuster scored two in 10th, proving his hammer wasn’t rusty. (Sorry.) They had a bye in the evening session, so they couldn’t build on their momentum.

The U.S. women are just in a puzzling hole. Their decisions backfire. Their shots are ever so slightly off. Erika Brown just slightly missed a double takeout (not an easy shot) in the fifth end, giving China an easy shot for two and a 3-2 lead. In the sixth, China got a lot of rocks in the house and forced Brown to make a difficult draw for one. She made it, but China got another break when Brown’s hit-and-roll in the eighth was just an inch or so shy of where it needed to be, and China picked up another deuce. Brown and Debbie McCormick needed to hit big shots in the ninth and 10th, and they couldn’t quite do it. China 7-4.

What happened: 

– Morning session: Only three games instead of the usual four in this one, including the USA’s win. The other two games were tied going into the 10th, and the teams with the hammer won — China 5-4 over Switzerland, and the flashy-panted Norwegians 8-5 over Germany.

– Afternoon session: The showdown between contenders Canada and Britain came down to this in the fifth end. Tied 3-3, Canada had the hammer. Britain’s final shot left this:

curling1

 

So that yellow rock (Britain’s) in the blue circle looks good, right? Canada would have a difficult shot just to get one, let alone anything more than that. Right?

Canada’s response:

curling2

 

So the rock Jones threw hit one of her own red rocks (see the empty circle), knocked it nearly straight ahead and set off a combination that removed the yellow rock. Got it?

(Diagrams from this World Curling Federation site that generates one of these images for every shot. Great stuff.)

Meanwhile, Sweden had little trouble with South Korea in a 7-4 win, and Japan silenced the Russian crowd (if that’s possible) with an 8-4 decision.

– Evening session: Canada took four in the fifth and never looked back against Russia, winning 7-4. China led 8-7 with the hammer going into the 10th and took advantage of Germany’s necessary aggression to take three for the 11-7 win. Britain and Sweden scored nothing but singles, with Britain winning 4-2.

Full results | Men’s standings | Women’s standings

0
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Speedskating, men’s 1,000 meters

Posted on by Beau Dure

Two-time defending Olympic champion Shani Davis never got in gear, and neither did most of the other favorites on a puzzling day at the speedskating oval. The Netherlands picked up two more medals, with gold for Stefan Groothuis. The winner was fourth in this event in 2010 and a world champion in 2012, but he had done very little since then.

Date: 12-Feb

Sport: Speedskating

Medalists: Stefan Groothuis (Netherlands), Denny Morrison (Canada), Michel Mulder (Netherlands)

SportsMyriad projections: Shani Davis (USA), Denis Kuzin (Kazakhstan), Tae-Bum Mo (South Korea)

How U.S. fared: Davis was never in it, finishing in 1:09.12 (0.73 seconds back). Brian Hansen was just behind him, 0.82 seconds back. They were eighth and ninth.

Joey Mantia was 15th, 1.33 back. Jonathan Garcia, who rebounded from an extraordinary error at the Olympic trials to claim a spot at this distance, was 2.35 back in 28th.

What happened: The competition got serious with the 16th of 20 pairs to go. The Netherlands’ Stefan Groothuis (1:08.39) and Germany’s Nico Ihle (1:08.86) took first and second.

But everyone was still waiting for the favorites. The Netherlands’ Michel Mulder, the gold medalist at 500 meters. Kazakhstan’s Denis Kuzin, the world champion. South Korea’s Tae-Bum Mo, the silver medalist in the 2010 Olympics and 2013 World Championships. Plus the dark-horse North Americans — the USA’s Brian Hansen and Canada’s Denny Morrison.

Pair 17: Mulder went out quickly with Morrison, but the Dutchman faded. Morrison passed him but just missed the time of Groothuis. After 17 pairs, it was Groothuis, Morrison (0.04 seconds back), Mulder (0.35).

Then all eyes were on the defending champion Shani Davis, along with yet another Dutchman, Koen Verweij. From the start, they were slightly off the pace. Then more. Then more. Then they crossed the line nowhere near the podium.

Pair 19: The door was wide-open for Hansen and Mo, who went … even slower. Hansen was just behind Davis’ time. Mo was slower than that.

Two favorites down. Could Kuzin restore order from the final pair? No! He broke down in tears while the Dutch coaches and fans celebrated as they so often do in this sport.

Some perspective on the winners:

World Cup standings, 2013-14: Davis 1st, Mulder 2nd, Morrison 6th … Groothuis 17th.

Best times, 2013-14: Davis 1st, Morrison 4th, Mulder 5th … Groothuis 20th.

Go figure.

Full results

0
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Nordic combined, normal hill

Posted on by Beau Dure

Soft snow, hard race. Eric Frenzel had the best jump and seemed to be toying with the field through much of the cross-country race, finally turning on the turbo for the last 200 meters for the win.

Date: 12-Feb

Sport: Nordic combined

Event: Men’s normal hill (one jump from normal hill, 10k cross-country race)

Medalists: Eric Frenzel (Germany), Akito Watabe (Japan), Magnus Krog (Norway)

SportsMyriad projections: Jason Lamy Chappuis (France), Eric Frenzel (Germany), Mikko Kokslien (Norway)

How U.S. fared: Bill Demong and Todd Lodwick were part of a big medal breakthrough in 2010. They’re back but a bit older and banged up, along with the younger Bryan and Taylor Fletcher. The aim here is a team medal.

Lodwick, the 37-year-old six-time Olympian, had a decent jump. Demong’s was slightly better. Bryan Fletcher, who has a World Cup win, is better at skiing but was still disappointed in his jump. Taylor Fletcher, who has a World Cup podium, also is better at skiing but took himself completely out of the picture with his jump, placing last by a wide margin.

Athletes’ jumps determine when they start the cross-country race. Demong would start 1:33 back, followed quickly by Lodwick (1:34). Bryan Fletcher would start 1:44 back. Taylor Fletcher was all alone, 2:34 back.

Lodwick opted not to race the cross-country stage. Demong pulled across in 24th, 1:49 back. B-Fletcher was a few seconds later in 26th. T-Fletcher passed a lot of people on the course and and placed 33rd, which bodes well for his leg in the all-important team event to come.

What happened: The first jumper, young Russian Evgeny Klimov, sat in first place through 44 jumpers. The contenders, including defending champion Jason Lamy Chappuis, all clustered behind him.

Then came the second-to-last jumped, Japan’s Akito Watabe, who flew past everyone. Literally. He flew 100.5 meters. And then the favorite, Germany’s Eric Frenzel, went 2.5 meters better — a magnificent 103 meters. That gave Frenzel a six-second lead over Watabe and a 30-second lead on the other contenders heading into the race.

The balmy weather, comfortably over 50 degrees (or 10 degrees, for those who prefer Celsius) softened the snow on the race course.

Frenzel let Watabe join him in a two-man lead group. But they weren’t able to put much time on the chase group. Norway’s magnificently named Magnus Moan, who started 48 seconds back, caught up with the contenders and led the chasers — 17 of them, including the major players, to within 20 seconds at the halfway mark.

By 6.5k, the chase group was within 13 seconds, but it was much smaller. Defending champion Jason Lamy Chappuis had fallen off the pace.

But Frenzel and Watabe turned up the pace. Through 9k, the gap was still 12.5 seconds. And still eight or nine skiers were aiming for at least bronze.

Frenzel waited patiently to make his move until the two leaders reached the stadium. Then he blew away from Watabe, leaving time to celebrate as he crossed the finish line. Watabe was still comfortably in silver, 4.2 seconds back. Norway’s Magnus Krog, who started more than a minute back, sprinted to bronze (8.1 seconds back) ahead of Italian contender Alessandro Pittin, who hung his head in that most painful of spots — fourth place, 1.2 seconds behind Krog. Moan was fifth, and the rest of the field trickled in from there.

Full results

0
medal projections, olympic sports, winter sports

Best/worst, Sochi medal projections vs. reality, Feb. 11

Posted on by Beau Dure

Here’s what I hate about the Olympics …

Or maybe it’s just what I hate about American sports culture, where all of these athletes are invisible in the years between each quadrennial glitzfest …

An athlete can strive for years and become the best in the world, winning all sorts of international competition. But those competitions are hardly mentioned in the U.S. media. It all comes down to the Olympics.

And we’re so cynical in this country. “Oh, that person in all the ads didn’t medal? Must be overhyped. Or a choker. Major fail.”

Some athletes can come back four years later to try again. Some only get one shot.

In Kikkan Randall’s case, she’s the best freestyle sprinter in the world. But cross-country alternates between freestyle and classical in each Olympics. So her best event comes every EIGHT years.

Eight years. And it comes down to 0.05 seconds.

That’s the margin that kept Randall out of the sprint semifinals. She led her heat — featuring sprint stars Marit Bjoergen and Denise Herrmann — most of the way. When the big two went past in the stretch, she still seemed to be line to advance as a “lucky loser.” Then Italy’s Gaia Vuerich stretched past her. Not lucky at all.

These things happen. Everyone has a bad day. Freestyle skiers and snowboarders wipe out on jumps they land 80 percent of the time. Downhill skiers miss a little bump in the snow that costs them precious time. Endurance athletes misjudge their pace and give out of gas in the stretch.

All you can do about it and remind people how many GOOD days someone like Randall has had. She’s not overhyped. She’s a champion.

And that’s why I’ve spent years pushing for more attention to the things these athletes do outside the Olympics. (Maybe it would help if people would read this blog between Olympics! Or if we’d get major TV coverage of big events. The former is probably a little easier.)

Another hyped American, Sarah Hendrickson, also will be ranked far down the list. But she’ll have several Olympics ahead of her. And unlike Randall, she knows why her body let her down today. She blew out her knee a few months ago and never felt comfortable on it. She’s one of her sport’s pioneers, beautifully symbolized by her jump to open the first Olympic women’s ski jump today. Not the farthest jump of the day, but it was breathtaking.

Randall is also a pioneer. She’s pushing the new-ish discipline of cross-country sprinting, representing a new wave of athletes and new wave of Americans with dignity and heart. Let that be her legacy.

And don’t let this be a much of Ameri-centric melancholy. Every time some scrappy American wins an unexpected medal, some other country’s version of Kikkan Randall or Danny Davis sees something slip away. Somewhere, some Russian and German luge sliders are wondering how Erin Hamlin figured out the Sochi track so well. The Czech Republic’s Gabriela Soukalova will rue the letdown that saw Slovenia’s Teja Gregorin get away from her. Canada’s Kaya Turski and the USA’s Keri Herman will have to be happy for their teammates in slopestyle. Norway’s Marit Bjoergen … well, look, she can’t win everything, right?

If those athletes are better celebrated in their host countries, not just every four years but each year, terrific. Maybe we’ll catch up in the USA one day.

On to today’s medal count update and other bests and worsts:

CURRENT PACE

The original medal projections were: 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, the final medal count would be: Norway 34, USA 31, Canada 29, Russia 28, Austria 23, Germany 21, Netherlands 18, France 13, Sweden 13, South Korea 11, Switzerland 11

DOWN

USA (-4 today, -4 overall): Yeah, it was a rough day. Shaun White had the top score on halfpipe (95.75), but he did it in qualifications. The much-maligned halfpipe in the Russian mountains chewed up several contenders, including the Americans.

Then you had Randall, Hendrickson and Heather Richardson all missing projected medals. Richardson was a shaky pick, though — the 500 isn’t her best event.

The good news: Erin Hamlin’s luge breakthrough and Devin Logan’s sharp silver in slopestyle.

The wacky news: The U.S. curling teams remain winless through five total games, but they lost one in style giving up a record seven points in one end. U.S. skip Erika Brown put it this way: “We knew if she got three it was doomsville, so it didn’t matter if she got three or seven. We were all in at that point.” USA Curling’s Terry Kolesar sportingly tweeted a picture showing how it happened:

https://twitter.com/terry_usacurl/status/433294127888097280/photo/1

Russia (-2 today, +2 overall): Back to Earth a little bit with disappointments in cross-country skiing and ski jumping.

UP

Slovenia (+2 today, +1 overall): Great day at the Nordic venue, with bronze medals in biathlon and the women’s cross-country sprint.

RIGHT ON TARGET

Germany picked up the expected three medals today, with Carina Vogt’s ski jump making up for the lack of a sweep in women’s luge. Canada took two instead of one in women’s slopestyle and now has nine medals, one off the projected 10.

HIGHLIGHTS

Best read: My former colleague Erik Brady put Kikkan Randall’s day in focus: “This is the flip side of joy, what it feels like when the dream disappears.”

Best near-misses (USA): Sophie Caldwell powered her way to the cross-country sprint final, and Susan Dunklee got as high as fourth in the biathlon before missing some shots.

Best halfpipe-construction insult: Danny Davis snapped a picture of organizers trying to “polish the turd.”

Most studious athlete: Figure skater Jeremy Abbott, who put the USA in a early hole in the team event, has left the Olympic Village to have less fun and more focus. And you thought it was hard to tear yourself away from the keg parties to study in college.

Speaking of the Olympic Village: Watch for falling lampshades:

Best reason to set the DVR: The Colbert bump!

Best figure skating moment: German pair Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy deserve a medal for their Pink Panther routine.

Best crowd: Yeah, women’s ski jumping … no one will go for it …

Best “Where’s Waldo?” impression: Christine Brennan captured Sarah Hendrickson in flight. Or so she says.

Scariest moment: Ever wonder what would happen if Evel Knievel fell short of the landing ramp? Canadian freestyle skier Yuki Tsubota could probably answer.

Worst analysis: Shaun White lost? Gotta be the hair.

Worst injury news: Liechtenstein’s medal chances (yes, they exist — both the country and the medal chances) took a big hit when Tina Weirather withdrew from the downhill.

(No Storify recap today. They’re a little awkward, don’t you think?)

FULL TABLE

(corrected — earlier version duplicated men’s sprint results as women’s sprint results. Apologies to Slovenia.)

[gview file=”http://www.sportsmyriad.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-medal-projections-Feb11-1.pdf”%5D

8
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Ski jumping, women’s

Posted on by Beau Dure

Thirty women made history and ignored the advice of patronizing men, demonstrating that they can compete in women’s ski jumping without crumbling into pieces or destroying civilization as we know it.

Date: 11-Feb

Sport: Ski jumping

Event: Women’s normal hill (next time, can they also do team and large hill?)

Medalists: Carina Vogt (Germany), Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (Austria), Coline Mattel (France)

SportsMyriad projections: Sara Takanashi (Japan), Sarah Hendrickson (USA), Irina Avvakumova (Russia)

How U.S. fared: In some respects, it was their day. The USA led the way in the push to get this sport in the Olympics, sacrificing livelihoods and years of frustration to do so. They were also pioneers of the sport — Lindsey Van was the first world champion in 2009, Sarah Hendrickson claimed the first World Cup in 2012 and won the world title in 2013.

And Hendrickson had the honor of going first. It was a dubious honor in some respects — she had no World Cup points, so she was essentially ranked last. But no matter. History will record her as the first woman to take an official jump in the Games.

In terms of results, it wasn’t their day. Hendrickson isn’t all the way back from a devastating knee injury. She had a decent first jump, as if to make a statement, then fell back a bit on her second. She finished 21st.

Van has declined in form since her world title. She had two middle-of-the-pack jumps, yelled “I had fun!” to the camera and moved on, finishing 15th.

Jessica Jerome hasn’t been a contender. Her second jump had terrific distance (99 meters), but her landing wasn’t as smooth as she would have liked. She finished 10th.

But the sight of Hendrickson soaring through the air was a beautiful moment. She had overcome so much just to be there. So had everyone.

What happened: The big surprise was Russia’s Irina Avvakumova, who upset Sara Takanashi in a World Cup event in January. She was off the mark in the first jump and farther off the mark in the second.

Takanashi was only third after the first jump, trailing Germany’s Carina Vogt and France’s Coline Mattel.

As the second jump moved along, the historical aspects gave way to the competition. Jumpers go in reverse order of their current standings, so the first-jump leaders can take aim at the podium with the final action of the day.

Austria’s Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, fifth in the first jump, sailed 104.5 meters in her second — six meters farther than her first. Young Italian Evelyn Insam couldn’t match that.

Then it was Takanashi’s turn. The dominant Japanese teen has one World Cup title and is in line for a second. But she was second to Hendrickson at the 2013 World Championships. And with her 98.5-meter jump, she dropped behind Iraschko-Stolz.

Mattel, often third behind Takanashi and Hendrickson, did just enough to bump off Takanashi. Each of her two jumps was a little behind Takanashi’s in terms of distance, but she had better style points and Takanashi had wind adjustments.

Vogt had yet to win a World Cup or World Championship title. Her second-jump distance was only 97.5 meters, and she waited in suspense to see if her overall total would be enough. It was.

For Takanashi and other contenders, there was Olympic heartbreak. But they’ll have more opportunities to come. They’re young, and this sport is only going to grow.

Quote: “I think our battle to get the women into ski jumping became much more than ski jumping. It really became a women’s rights issue and a human rights issue because we were really fighting for all women in all sports and hopefully all aspects of life. Hopefully we have taught other girls and other young women around the world that if you really are persistent and never give up, fight hard – hopefully you don’t have to fight – but if you do, fight fairly and well and you can achieve your dreams. So go for it. That’s what we hope. Now we have to work on 2018 getting women on the large hill and a team event. As soon as Sochi is over we start working on that.” – DeeDee Corradini, president of Women’s Ski Jumping USA (sent via press release)

Full results

0
olympic sports, winter sports

Sochi recap: Curling, day 2

Posted on by Beau Dure

A couple of contenders faced off, while it looked more and more like the USA will not be among them.

Date: 11-Feb

Sport: Curling

Event: Day 2 of group play, with two women’s sessions and one men’s.

How U.S. fared: Russian curling fans are a bit like Clemson basketball fans. They may not fully understand what they’re watching, but they’re going to bring the noise. Erika Brown’s rink took three in the third end for a nice early lead, but Russia stole two in the fifth to go up 5-4. The rest of the way, Russia got two with its hammers while the USA got one. Final: Russia 9-7.

John Shuster and the U.S. men shot a bit better, but China made the big shots and the USA didn’t. A wayward Shuster shot in the third gave China a good shot for three, which they barely converted. Shuster seemed to be in good shape for a steal or only conceding one in the fifth, but China tossed a fast-moving stone that somehow dislodged all the U.S. rocks while leaving two Chinese rocks in scoring position.

The U.S. women came back to face Britain, one of the tournament favorites. In the fourth end, someone on the team said, “Maybe we can hold her to two.” Nope. They gave up seven. The USA gamely played two more ends but gave up three more in the sixth, then conceded a 12-3 decision.

What happened:

– Morning session: Canada’s women could hardly have had a more emphatic win, trading doubles for singles with fellow contender Sweden before icing the game with three in the eighth end. Sweden conceded for a 9-3 final.

South Korea and Japan, not expected to contend, were tied 7-7 after seven ends. But South Korea scored two with the hammer, then stole one to put Japan in a big hole. With Japan needing a big three, South Korea instead stole two more to win 12-7.

Switzerland and Denmark had the game of the session, with each skip shooting a strong 85%. Switzerland had the hammer first, and with only one end blanked, they had it again in the 10th and won 7-6.

– Afternoon session: Other than the U.S. game, the men played some close ones. None was closer than the Canada-Sweden contenders’ showdown, where it all came down to one last shot in which Niklas Edin’s draw was just a hair closer to the center than the top Canadian rock. Sweden 7-6.

The last shot went the other way on another sheet, with Britain stealing one in the 10th to beat Germany 7-6.

The Norway-Russia game looked closer than it was. Russia needed four in the 10th end and got three for a 9-8 final.

– Evening session: The Britain-USA game was over early. So was Denmark-Japan, where Japan stole points in the second, third and fourth ends to take a 5-0 lead. They traded singles, then deuces, and then Denmark conceded down 8-3 after eight.

Switzerland scored two in the fifth and stole three in the sixth to take control against South Korea, which cut the lead to 7-6 but needed a steal in the 10th. Switzerland defended with the hammer and won 8-6.

Once again, the Russians played a dramatic encounter for the raucous home crowd. China led 6-4 into the ninth end but could only get one on a double takeout attempt, leaving the house open for Russia to score two and tie it up. But Russia missed a wide-open draw, leaving China in the lead with the hammer.

Russia did a nice job getting rocks in the house with guards out front. (Look, I can’t keep translating — you’re going to have to learn curling lingo.) But China made the clutch draw for the 7-5 win.

Full results | Men’s standings | Women’s standings

0