Olympic Snowboarding 2014: Schedule, TV Info and Medal Predictions for Day 5

The women's snowboard halfpipe will both begin and end on Wednesday in Sochi, Russia, at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

This time four years ago, Australia's Torah Bright reigned supreme. She edged out Americans Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark to earn the top spot on the podium.

Fast-forward to present day, and little has changed. Those three riders will be medal favorites during Wednesday's action.

One of the biggest storylines heading into the competition has been the quality of the halfpipe itself. Many participants have been critical of the conditions.

Rick Maese of The Washington Post reported what was the bone of contention: "Later in the evening, riders said as practice progressed, the transitions grew increasingly bumpy, and the flat surface area between the walls deteriorated. Teter likened it to a mogul field. Many riders had trouble staying upright and gathering momentum between tricks."

Shaun White finished fourth in the men's halfpipe on Tuesday, which came as a huge shock considering he had won gold in the same event in each of the last two Winter Olympics. Perhaps he was one of many adversely affected by the halfpipe issues.

"It’s hard to get in there and have all the tricks and have everything that you need and not be able to get to the wall,” he said before the finals, per Maese. “I just had a frustrating practice and I’m hoping tomorrow will be better.”

Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan tried to explain how things got so messed up:

While every rider will be performing on the same course, it could ultimately level the playing field between the medal contenders and those lower on the totem pole. One fall could see somebody such as Clark tumble down the leaderboard.

Here's a look at the schedule for Wednesday's action, with the three riders in the best position to medal in the women's snowboard halfpipe.

Event	Time (ET)	TV Info
Women's Halfpipe Qualification	5 a.m.	None
Women's Halfpipe Semifinals	10 a.m.	None
Women's Halfpipe Finals	12:30 p.m.	Replay on NBC at 8 p.m.

Note: You can view ladies' halfpipe live on NBC Olympics Live Extra.

Medal Predictions

Bronze: Arielle Gold, USA

With the dominance of female American snowboarders, you have to believe that at least two of the three medal winners will come from the U.S. The battle seems to be between Arielle Gold and Hannah Teter.

While Teter has the experience, Gold has the momentum. She won bronze in the superpipe at the 2013 Winter X Games and gold in the halfpipe at the 2013 World Championships.

Despite all of her success, Gold remains humble ahead of the competition, per MaxPreps' John Coon.

"It's not really something I ever expected to be doing," she said. "I'm just excited to be going to Russia with such an amazing group of people. Hopefully, I should be able to ride well there."

Keeping that humility may be hard if Gold adds another piece to her already growing medal cabinet.

Silver: Torah Bright, Australia

Andy Wong/Associated Press

Torah Bright isn't having the best of times since arriving to Sochi. Her mother implored that Vladimir Putin himself intervene and make Olympic organizers improve the halfpipe conditions, as Bright fell hard during her last training run on the course, per Andrew Webster of The Sydney Morning Herald.

If anything, the fall might serve to help Bright in her medal push, barring an injury that keeps her from competing. Sometimes, you need to mess up like that to learn your limits and hone your routine ahead of a competition.

At her best, Bright is one of the best female snowboarders in the world, and she shouldn't be overcome by the poor conditions again.

Gold: Kelly Clark, USA

Kelly Clark is entering Sochi as the overwhelming favorite to win gold in women's halfpipe. Although she only earned bronze in Vancouver, she does have a gold from Salt Lake City and five gold medals from the Winter X Games.

She's at the top of her game, and she's entering the Olympics on a great run.

At 30 years old, this is the last opportunity Clark will have to make an impact on the Olympic stage, so she'll be looking to leave on a high note.

Let's hope success in 2014 will help the snowboarder to stop getting confused with Kelly Clarkson.

Follow me on Twitter @JosephZucker.