lol at the Koreans and Christie's boy toy.
lol at the Koreans and Christie's boy toy.
Great run by Yarnold.
Track record and at least a silver
Took a little hit too.
The Super-G result was absolutely mind-boggling.
Normally they run the top 20 ranked skiers first, and it's generally assumed that whoever is leading after that part is over will be the winner (as has been true since they started doing it this way). Anna Veith (defending champion) was leading, and the event was winding down. NBC actually counted her as the victor on their website. What nobody saw coming was a Ester Ledecka, a Czech snowboarder (the favourite for the parallel slalom apparently) who skis a bit on the side, coming out of nowhere to grab the gold medal.
Awesome ending. Also a bronze to Liechtenstein, which is pretty cool.
Flock the Austrian fucked it
Gold and bronze.
'Mon the suits.
Ski halfpipe is about as un-exciting as a jumping trick-based sport can be.
The ski slopestyle was fun, so it's not just that skis don't make for fun tricks. I think they depend heavily on the terrain.
I only watched half of the qualification for the ski slopestyle, it was great.
I was hoping that Oystein won the gold too as his second run was brilliant. Didn't score the highest in the qualification but you could see that should he tighten it up a bit (and stay longer on the rails) he'd beast it.
I'm also glad that the Brit James Wood missed out after his interview:
"Fourth place is minging, it's so devastating," Woods said.
I feel like this snowboarding big air isn't all that big. I want something more like a ski jumping ramp, really fucking go for it.
I was watching the aerial skiing (possibly the best Winter Olympic event of all), and those guys wind up about four stories in the air before they land.
Obviously they are able to do so without breaking everything, but no matter how soft it is, and how steep the angle is, I simply cannot understand how they do it without shattering their legs on impact.
I had the same question. I don't remember the exact details but the answer had to do with the fact that you continue moving and something regarding the low friction but I don't recall the specifics.
Russian curler charged with doping offence. What a return to form.
What possible performance enhancement could a curler hope for?
Hoping to get faster brush swipes.
There's quite a few drugs which induce parkinsonism, wonder if they are considered performing enhancing for curlers.
Why would you ever want to induce Parkinsons?
For comedy purposes I assume.
To put it simply, because there are illnesses which are essentially caused by the opposite of Parkinson's (Parkinson's is not enough of something whilst they are too much).
The drugs brings someone with too much down to normal, whilst if given to someone already at a normal level or in too high doses will induce Parkinsonism.
That's much clearer now.
Parkinsonism sounds like some sort of Top Gear cult.
His name is Clarkson.
There's a joke about Ali in here but I'm not sure I want my head to do the legwork to find it.
Christie was guilty as sin in that race.
The BBC commentary is a bit embarrassing for you lot.
Big lol at the American who somehow wangled a slot to represent Hungrary only to perform the dullest half-pipe of all time.
Her story is pretty funny, to be fair. She qualified by going to events and not falling over. Doing that enough times in a sport where half the competitors do fall over got her into the top thirty.
My favourite thing is the commentators, who talked about it with the same intensity they would any other competitor.
The bit that got me is this:
So she's clearly fairly committed. Is she minted? Why hasn't she improved to the extent that she can pull off more than a few inches of air?According to the Denver Post, Swaney has traveled the world to compete in World Cup halfpipe events, including in China, Italy, France, South Korea, Canada and New Zealand, as well as stateside in California, Colorado and Utah. Her best result was 13th out of a field of 15 competitors in China, when most of the world’s top skiers were at a more prestigious event in the U.S.
Aren't 99% of snowboarders and skiers just privileged children?
It's a bit too popular now to be one of those sports where you get the impression that anyone starting young with enough free time could be 'world class'. Like motor racing.
Six olympic entries resulting in four DQs and two crashes seems a fairly indefensible record.
It's hard to tell if it's just our pundits wanking themselves silly over any prospect of a medal (or better yet a plucky Brit narrative). She's won other stuff presumably so she must have some pace; the David Coulthard of speed skating.
She's definitely not, even when she stays up. That's the Korean racer. But she's probably in the top three or four (when she stays up). Ignore talk of world records though, because that's too dependent on how fast the early stages of the races are. Christie often pushes the pace early, so she records fast times.
She was the third favourite for the 1000m, and the fourth for the 1500m and the 500m.
EDIT: Short-track relays may be my favourite thing on ice. Glorious chaos.
The bronze medal going to the winner of the B final. Best sport ever.
(Also, now I understand why short track needs B finals.)
The commentators treat it with absolute seriousness. The highlights.
And good on her. She saw her shot at competing in the Olympics, and she took it.
Yeah that is absolutely brilliant.
Well, she is. Reigning World Champion 3 times over. Makes it even more daft, really.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_W..._Championships
What a semi final in the speed skating team thing, I really thought New Zealand had it.
Korea 0.4s behind New Zealand with 2 laps to go and they win by 0.72 seconds.
Great race and a track record to get them through.
Netherlands ladies going faster than their Olympic Record in the final but still losing by over 1.5 seconds to Japan, wow.
You'll notice that Choi Min-jeong isn't anywhere in that list (she's the one who streaked away in the final of the 1500m). She's the best skater in the world, and she wasn't at that event.
Not saying Christie isn't excellent; she was third- or fourth-favourite for every individual event.
Do you reckon the mongs that wear surgical masks to sporting events are lolled at by their own society too?
In Asia it's a normal thing. We've got some Chinese embassy above our office and they've always got them on in the Winter. It's a manners thing.
The thing I like about the Winter Olympics is that it's just small enough that you can mostly follow everything that happens. It's not like the Olympics where some random Azerbaijani wins a wrestling medal and you only notice when they appear on the medal tally at the end of the day. It's really easy to keep tabs on all the events that are happening at any given time.
I currently have the biathlon relay on my computer, and the short track on the TV.
The Guardian liveblog is pretty good, but the BBC one is the worst thing I've ever seen. It makes the Sky cricket commentators look fair and balanced. Half the commentary today is about Elise Christie, and how short track speed skating is unfair and needs to change.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/43168312
Second Russian pisses hot.
Get Crown Green bowlers decked out in Heelys and you've got field curling. I'm looking for £25000 for a 15% stake in my business
I don't think brushing a lawn would have the desired effect.
That's where the Dyson comes in.