Olympic Freestyle Skiing 2014: Top Takeaways from Men's Ski Halfpipe
While 28 competitors entered the day with a hope of leaving with a gold medal at the Olympics, only David Wise was able to come away with a win at the men's ski halfpipe in Sochi.
The exciting event featured a qualifying round that narrowed the field down to 12 for the finals. At this point, the American only needed his first run to win it all, as his 92.00 was the best score of the day. Canada's Mike Riddle took the silver and France's Kevin Rolland won the bronze.
Justin Dorey had arguably the most disappointing performance in the finals, finishing in last place after posting the best score in the qualification round.
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In between, there were a bunch of memorable moments to create one of the better events so far in the Winter Olympics. Here is a look at the biggest takeaways from Tuesday's action at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.
North America Continues to Dominate the Extreme Sports
The countries that do well at the X-Games are unsurprisingly carrying that over in the newer events at the Olympics. Ski halfpipe and slopestyle made their debuts in Sochi, but the United States and Canada are doing well in all snowboard and freestyle skiing events.
Lindsay H. Jones of USA Today discusses the impressive performance from the U.S. in these sports after a recent sweep of the skiing slopestyle:
"Consider this 18-hour span at the Extreme Park, home to slopestyle, halfpipe, moguls, aerials and ski and snowboard cross: American women finished first, third and fourth in the snowboard halfpipe just before midnight. By midafternoon the following day, the USA had added three more medals in men's ski slopestyle: a gold for Joss Christensen, silver for Gus Kenworthy and bronze for Nick Goepper.
The Americans have deeper rosters of talent in most of the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events than any other country, which is exactly what Christensen showed in his surprising gold medal day.
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Add in Canada, and things are even more unbalanced. The two countries have combined for five golds and 13 medals overall in seven freestyle skiing events, plus seven more medals in snowboarding. Interestingly, though, the biggest story in these events is Shaun White not winning.
Of course, the reason for the unbalance is that these events are all new to the rest of the world. It just so happens that America is on the forefront of the IOC's youth movement, as noted by Bleacher Report's Dan Levy:
"For the Winter Olympics to continue to attract the attention of fans around the world, the International Olympic Committee has to continue to include newer events to the traditional offerings. Thankfully for the United States, we are great at a lot of those events.
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Women's ski halfpipe starts on Thursday, and the United States is once again favored with top competitors like Maddie Bowman and Devin Logan. If this week has told us anything, it is that these stars should find themselves on top of the podium.
"Best Score" System Creates More Excitement
Each sport in the Olympics has its own scoring system. Some events like speedskating only feature a single run to decide a winner. Others like luge utilize multiple runs but they are combined, so a poor showing can still knock you out of medal contention.
However, freestyle halfpipe gives you an opportunity to count only your best score, meaning what you do in your other run means absolutely nothing.
As a result, the athletes are able to take more risks in order to get a better score, rather than just playing it safe to get something mediocre. This was obviously what happened on the winning run for Wise, as described by Skyler Wilder of NBC Olympics:
On the other hand, it kept hopes alive even when Dorey crashed in his first run:
When Wise fell in the second round, it created plenty of drama which would not have been there without the ability to drop a score:
Although Dorey did not come through in his last appearance, fans were still treated to an excellent show throughout the event. We were able to see everyone's best attempt, and the final round was truly unpredictable.
It might be a good thing if this type of system could be adopted in other sports. You will see more mistakes, but you will also see a relaxed atmosphere and more true greatness.
David Wise Will Be Back
There is a general stereotype for athletes in extreme events, but Wise does not fit this description. John Branch of the New York Times described him as "the undude" in an interview in November. Wise explained:
"There’s an image they want. And I didn’t fit that for a long time. Even after I won the X Games the first time, they said: ‘We don’t know what to do with this guy. He’s different.’ My rebuttal to that is: Why do you want something that has been done before? It’s the people who are different who end up shaping the culture.
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Regardless of what competitors think of him as a person, though, there is no denying his skill as an athlete. His teammate, Aaron Blunck explained to Jones and Rachel Axon of USA Today:
"Dave is, right now, on top of the sport. He's the best. He's proven it multiple times. He comes out in any condition and has amazing fun. He's the dad out of the group. So, no matter what he does, we're proud of him.
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Wise has won gold at the past three X-Games, he won the 2013 world championships and now he has an Olympic gold medal—despite being only 23 years old.
While 27-year-old athletes are basically dinosaurs in this sport, there is little doubt that he will remain a top contender for a gold medal in 2018. The big question is which young stars will challenge him.
Jason Stahl of NBC Olympics discusses one top competitor:
Beau-James Wells finished in sixth place for New Zealand. Additionally, 17-year-old American Aaron Blunck ended his day in seventh.
These challengers and more will create an exciting atmosphere in the next Olympics in South Korea.
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