Well, the weather looks good in Sochi: TV coverage showed clear skies and lots of snow. Snow boarders were working it, doing their 'slope-style'/ X games tricks and jumps. An American, Sage Kotsenburg, won the gold medal in the first ever event of slopestyle snow boarding. This is the event that two time gold medalist, Shaun White, withdrew from only last week, commenting that he did not think the course was safe. The event had several components including rail riding, short jumps, long jumps, and trick jumps with steep landing zones. As the cameras followed the boarders, viewers could see how dangerous the event is: one mistake among the different component parts could be disastrous, if not fatal. Those crash helmets don't prevent broken limbs, dislocations, nor internal, soft tissue trauma. Nonetheless, Sage looked exuberant with his gold medal and 15 minutes of fame. The handsome Ceour d'Alene, Idaho native can now relax and enjoy the moment as the games get into full swing.
In the Ice Palace, skate teams from various countries, had pairs and individuals performing on the ice. Scoring is a bit confusing as individual results are wound into team totals to raise or lower overall scores. Again, the beauty of the skaters' performances highlight the games.
Women's Mogul event was won by sisters from Canada, the LaPointes from Montreal. Justine and Clhoe won silver and gold, edging out reigning world champ, American Hannah Kearney, who won Bronze. The 3rd LaPointe sister, Maxime, failed to make the finals. The proud parents of the girls said they trained hard since the games in Vancouver and it was a "family" effort to reach the podium. Nice story.
More to come.
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