When you’re launching off hills while rocketing down a snow-covered slope, there’s the never-ending risk of having a potential medal-winning run end in a crash.
Austria’s Michael Hayboeck topped normal hill qualifying in men’s ski jumping today at RusSki Gorki Jumping Center, netting a total of 128.6 that was enough to beat Germany’s Andreas Wank (second, 127.9) and Japan’s Reruhi Shimizu (third, 126.2).
Going into tomorrow’s final day (men’s/women’s free skate and free dance), they sit third in the overall standings with 34 points, looking up at leaders Russia (47 points) and Canada (41 points).
After a brief issue with missing luggage and equipment, the Jamaican bobsled team is now preparing for its two-man competition at the Sanki Sliding Center, which comes on Feb. 16.
Team USA’s Heather McPhie’s score of 18.85 (62.83%) in this morning’s second round of women’s moguls qualifying was enough to put her in the field for the afternoon final.
In his first interview since pulling out of the snowboard slopestyle competition to focus on claiming his third consecutive Olympic halfpipe gold, Team USA’s Shaun White told the Associated Press that he’s okay with the decision he made.
Canada and the U.S. figure to be fighting for the gold once again, and after the Americans won their first contest against Finland earlier this morning, the Canadians will look to follow suit.
The 20-year-old, who tweeted his amazement earlier this morning over advancing to the final, scored a 93.50 on his first run that stood up over Norway’s Staale Sandbech (silver, 91.75) and pre-event favorite Mark McMorris of Canada (bronze, 88.75).
Before the pomp and pageantry of tonight’s Opening Ceremony in Sochi, there was some fun to be had thanks to the choir from the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.
