Gusts of bone-chilling wind and hard, artificial snow have made it tough for athletes at the Beijing Olympics, with even veteran snowboarders complaining about the conditions yesterday.
The air temperature dropped to minus-20.4°C at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou before the start of yesterday’s slopestyle qualifiers for women, and harsh wind left many volunteers with frozen eyelashes.
Athletes said that the extreme cold and strong gusts of wind posed serious risks as they slid down a course designed to look like the Great Wall.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“It’s cold. It’s hard to keep your core temperature warm and then doing tricks feels a little bit more intimidating as you are just, like, stiff,” two-time Olympic gold medalist Jamie Anderson said.
Anderson, of the US, added that the wind would not necessarily blow the boarders off course, but it “just kind of scares you,” while the artificial snow was not the most enjoyable to ride.
The Beijing Winter Olympics is the first Games to use almost 100 percent artificial snow, deploying more than 100 snow generators and 300 snow cannons working flat out to cover the ski slopes.
“That was pretty gnarly so I’m happy to be walking away in one piece,” American Hailey Langland said after she completed her second run.
Langland said that the wind was not blowing straight downhill, but uphill, swirling between the jumps that made it difficult to gauge speed to land already difficult and dangerous tricks.
“The wind was a little bit tricky because sometimes you can feel it on the course to throw you off the game. You just really have to adapt,” said Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand, who led yesterday’s qualifying session to cruise into the finals.
In a clean ride, Sadowski-Synnott earned a best score of 86.75 after she successfully landed a backside 900 off the final jump.
“I was pretty stoked on that one, to put it down all the tricks together,” said the 20-year-old who is among the favorites.
Sadowski-Synnott said that she is leaving some tricks up her sleeve for the finals today.
“I have got a bit more in the tank for tomorrow,” she said.
Kokomo Murase of Japan, who was too young to compete at Pyeongchang 2018, advanced in second place.
At the X Games in Oslo, Murase, 17, became the youngest snowboarder to win at the event, capturing the Big Air title.
Anderson was also among the 12 athletes to advance to the finals, but the 31-year-old was unhappy with her run.
Calling the course was “super challenging,” Anderson added that she was nevertheless grateful to be back on Olympic slopes.
“I felt really pissed after my last run. Such is life, highs and lows,” she said, advancing in fifth place with 74.35 points.
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