Danger in the Slopestyle Event!

[GF2445]

Post your thoughts here?

Australia's Torah Bright said that the organisers didn't choose the best in the business to construct the course and because of that, it could be safety issues!

Sean White has now pulled out and there have already been withdrawals from the competition due to injury during training

What are your thoughts on this issue?

 

[gmyers]

It's an x- games event and some are saying complainers are wrong.

 

[Alex D]

There have been a few "fish" this morning and in practice, but I didn't see any major injuries yet. That said, snowboarding isn't Cross Country - injuries can happen sadly and you cant fully rule them out As soon wind comes in, you cant control your elements and this is a big issue at Sochi I believe.

The Brit just managed a back triple, nice stuff!

 

[BusyMom]

These athletes are pretty much the most daredevils on the planet. If they complaint, sth definitely is very wrong.

 

[Coco Usagi]

These athletes are pretty much the most daredevils on the planet. If they complaint, sth definitely is very wrong.

Sorry BusyMom, the award for the gutsiest athletes probably goes to the skeleton racers. Remember that an athlete from Georgia was killed during practice on the slide four years ago in Vancouver. Some athletes complained, but most kept going at it. I think that even with safety concerns, most of the athletes will still compete, and I'll pray for their safety.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just in case you didn't realise, the qualification for the Men's Slopestyle is on NOW on a livestream on the BBC website, and on BBCi1.

Official BBC Livestream Channel (may be geo-blocked, but I don't know)

BBCi1 is available via:

Digital terrestrial (UK only): Ch. 301 on Freeview
Digital cable (UK only): pressing the red button on a BBC channel? (I don’t have cable, so I’m not sure)
Digital satellite (Europe):

Astra 28.2E, Transponder 45 (10.773H. MBaud 22,000. FEC 5/6).
NOTE: The channel you want for the snowboarding is labelled “6390”​

There are also the usual illegal streams of спорт-2, but I don't want to post the link just in case the forum gets into trouble. (We know how strict the IOC is!)


This will be followed by the Women at 10:00 GMT (The BBC link will be the same)

Hope this helps

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Alex D]

These athletes are pretty much the most daredevils on the planet. If they complaint, sth definitely is very wrong.

Torah didn't even see the course and only said that after her opinion the "best" should had been building the course and not someone else. She was referring to Snow Park Technologies.
Snowboard events always have some type of "discussion" that's why the practice sessions are so important. After each of them you have meetings where the riders and course builders talk and do changes.

Something else Torah mentioned is the bad organization at Sochi. Unfinished hotels, no warm water etc.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Just wanted to let you know that I have just re-scanned my Free-To-Air satellite receiver, and have added the details on how to receive BBCi1 to my post above.

For details on how to receive the other BBC channels, see my first post in the Figure Skating Schedule thread.

Hope this helps

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I put on the Women's Qualification to see how my fellow Northern Irelander Aimee Fuller got on.

I've never watched slopestyle before, and had no idea what it involved. And I have to say, it is not my cup of tea. I was bored pretty much straight away!

Nevertheless, I watched on to see Aimee (she started with bib number 7, and is currently 10th out of 12). But after I see her second run, I'm going to leave it.

Having watched the first 12 runs, I honestly don't know what all the fuss is about! And although she was complaining, it didn't do Torah Bright any harm - she took a decent lead straight away!

Oh, somebody's just crashed! Maybe I spoke too soon...

HA! The commentator was talking about the condition of the snow and said "it's not like figure skating. The ice is the same everywhere in that..."!!!

Somehow, I don't think anybody in figure skating will agree with that statement!!!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[dorispulaski]

No kidding about ice not being the same everywhere. If the ice is too hard or soft or too wet with puddles (all of which I have seen), it can be a debacle.

In Boston, they have people running about measuring the temperature of the air and the ice. This is a leftover from NHL rink requirements, but they did the same for Nationals, but different on ice temperature, I heard.

I hadn't seen that before.

 

[Winnie_20]

I had never seen this before, either, but am very pleasantly surprised, not just by the sport itself, but also the IMHO rather spectacular camera shots and videos.
I hope all events look as great on the livestreams as this one!

 

[Alex D]

Was a wonderful first morning / afternoon. Lovely style ups and great moves, really nice stuff on the rails too. Very happy that Anna had such a lovely run, but its a pity about Ty. I hope she will be able to run a full run on Sunday.

Sarka missed the Final by a small margin sadly, still loved her runs!

And don't worry Caro if its not your cup of tea

 

[Near]

The judging is a bit suspect and the medical personnel doesn't seem to be present (I mean come on, its an extreme sport, you need to have medical people all along the course) but the athletes did put on a good show. IMO the concerns about the course where unfounded in the end, its nearly as good as the X-Games course - not to mention it looks great on TV.

Sorry BusyMom, the award for the gutsiest athletes probably goes to the skeleton racers. Remember that an athlete from Georgia was killed during practice on the slide four years ago in Vancouver. Some athletes complained, but most kept going at it. I think that even with safety concerns, most of the athletes will still compete, and I'll pray for their safety.

Luge, not Skeleton. Skeleton is quite a bit safer than Luge, since the centre of gravity is lower and the sleds don't go as fast.

 

[Olympia]

Well, this course terrifies the heck out of me. I'm not sure I can watch this event. This is one of those moments that I'm relieved that events are presented on tape where I live. If anything really bad happens, I can be forewarned.

 

[karne]

Awwwww, Scotty didn't make the slopestyle final But he did a huge backflip off the last jump to make the crowd happy!

None of the crashes look out of the ordinary to me - I mean, I don't know a lot about snowboarding, but it doesn't take much to see when someone is just a bit off-balance, or lands just a bit wrong, and with the speed they're carrying of course that's going to end badly.

 

[snowflake]

When I watched I thought this must be how people feel watching figure skating for the first times. OK I got the doubles, triples and the grabs. Agree with Karne that you could see when they wouldn't land their tricks, though some adjusted well in the air. A lot I didn't understand, but that's what you have commentators for. I felt at home when they pointed out that it's a subjectively judged sport and that sometimes it can be better doing an easier program and go clean

Funny sport. I've seen athletes practice it in the town center where there are rails. One of the guys had a coach who was knitting something just before he sent his pupil off I don't think I will be a follower, but all right to watch now and then.

1 Sage Kotzenburg(USA)
2 Staale Sandbech(NOR)
3 Mark McMorris(CAN)

Sven Thorgren(SWE) just out of the podium

So the Americans didn't need Shaun White after all….

 

[Near]

Sage winning is a substantial upset. He is well respected, but he doesn't have the difficulty of a lot of other riders.

The judging had a lot to do with him winning, honestly. I don't mean that the judging was bad per say, but it was very different than it is in other events (e.g. the X Games). Normally slopestyle scores heavily reward dificulty, but it seems that the Olympic judges rewarded style and execution (especially super clean landings) well above difficulty. Also, the riders aren't familiar with the Olympic judges so they had no idea what would score well and what wouldn't.

Still, it was a great debut for Slopestyle. The final was a bit underwhelming (the scores reflect that) but it was a great contest and Sage, IMO, is pushing slopestyle in the right direction. Him winning gold will hopefully push judging away from "spin to win".

 

[karne]

There's been a bit of wuzrobbing in the Australian commentary (tends to happen when the Australian doesn't make the final ) but I only started taking it seriously when the wuzrobbing even started coming from the podium finishers...something to do with the judges not judging slopestyle before?

Ladies slopestyle tonight, and Australian television is going to implode if Torah Bright doesn't win. Fortunately she seemed the cleanest and smoothest of the ladies I saw on Thursday in the qualifying runs, so hopefully she can pull it home and we can increase our all-time gold medal tally to SIX!!!!!

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Ladies slopestyle tonight, and Australian television is going to implode if Torah Bright doesn't win. Fortunately she seemed the cleanest and smoothest of the ladies I saw on Thursday in the qualifying runs, so hopefully she can pull it home and we can increase our all-time gold medal tally to SIX!!!!!

Sorry, I got the time wrong, and only just got the TV on in time to see my local representative, Aimee Fuller. So, I didn't get the chance to post the TV details in this thread in time.

Women's Slopestyle Semi-Final has started

Entries/Results Page
http://www.sochi2014.com/en/snowboard-ladies-sbs-semifinals

For those that wish to watch the Women's Slopestyle Semi, it is being shown on a livestream on the BBC website, and on BBCi2.

Official BBC Livestream Channel

BBCi2 is available via:

Digital terrestrial (UK only): Ch. 302 on Freeview
Digital cable (UK only): pressing the red button on a BBC channel? (I don’t have cable, so I’m not sure)
Digital satellite (Europe): Ch. 978 on SkyDigital

Astra 28.2E, Transponder 76 (12.551V. MBaud 22,000. FEC 5/6).
NOTE: The channel you want for the snowboarding is labelled “BBC RB 2”
​

Hope this helps

CaroLiza_fan

 

[dorispulaski]

The Olympic judges seemed to be very serious about judging the rails, tapping the materials doll in the head with the board, and all the obstacle course-like stuff at the top of the course. I thought it was a very exciting event.