ROSA KHUTOR, Russia, February 11 (R-Sport) – Canadian Dara Howell soared as several of her top rivals crashed out Tuesday to win the first-ever Olympic gold medal in slopestyle.
Howell’s first run combined speed and big air for an almost unheard-of score of 94.20 points in the discipline, a festival of tricks on rails and jumps.
“That will go down in history. I am so proud,” Howell said. “It’s huge for Canada. I’m happy to bring home another gold medal for Canada. The hard work has paid off.”
After several star names failed to make the final and others crashed out, the silver medal went to Devin Logan of the United States with a score of 85.40, with the bronze for Canadian Kim Lamarre with 85.00.
Howell, from Ontario, was competing with two stitches in her nose after a bizarre incident in which she knocked a bedside lamp onto her face after waking up.
Logan said everyone involved had to cope with challenging conditions as warm temperatures made landing conditions tricky.
“Today we just got some warm weather so the snow got kind of mushy,” she said. “Conditions could have been a little better. It could have been sunny, bluebirds, and the course could have held up a little bit.”
Lamarre recovered from a fall on her first run to produce a solid second attempt, edging Australia’s Anna Segal out of the podium.
“I feel like I’m still sleeping this morning, dreaming. This is surreal,” Lamarre said.
There were worries as Canada’s Yuki Tsubota crashed hard in the final, landing short of the slope on jump and bouncing onto her back. Tsubota, a former hockey player, did not seem to move and was stretchered off the slope before being taken to hospital with a broken jaw. A Canadian team spokesperson said her condition was "OK."
Slopestyle’s first Olympic showing has come amid controversy over the course, which was altered to lower the height of the jumps in light of complaints from snowboarders last week that it was unsafe.
Ski slopestyle’s first Olympic final was deprived of many of the sport’s biggest talents due to injuries, illness and simple failure on the slope.
Four time Winter X-Games champion Kaya Turski of Canada was the hot favorite before the competition, but had been struggling with a virus and fell on both of her qualifying runs, ending her charge for a medal.
“I’ve had a really rough two weeks actually. I’ve been sick,” she said. “I struggled pretty hard this morning, and I’m just glad it’s over.”
Germany’s 17-year-old Lisa Zimmermann had been one of the most innovative skiers this season, becoming the first woman to land a twice inverted spin in competition, but could not knit together a clean run in qualifying.
Before the competition, a broken arm ended Olympic hopes for 15-year-old US prodigy Maggie Voisin, and a training crash brought low X-Games silver medalist Tiril Sjastad Christiansen.
(Updates with quotes, background)
