In a sport full of talented teens, 30-year-old Anna Gasser is usually one of the oldest snowboarders competing at events, but the Austrian yesterday said that being pushed by the younger generation helped her land back-to-back big air gold medals at the Olympics.
Gasser was the inaugural champion when the big air event made its Games debut in Pyeongchang four years ago, and she said she was “surprised” to successfully defend her title in Beijing.
The Austrian was the only competitor to successfully land a 1260 in the final yesterday, giving her gold ahead of New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and 17-year-old Kokomo Murase of Japan.
Photo: Reuters
One of reasons she could still pull off the hardest tricks at 30 was that she came to the sport a bit late, she said.
“I started at 18. So maybe I’m still fresh a little bit, but also I’m having fun,” she said.
Unlike many prodigies who get on the snowboard as soon as they can walk, Gasser was only introduced to it in her final year of school through her cousin. Gasser, who trained in gymnastics when she was young, fell in love with snowboarding right away and improved quickly.
Gasser said the sport is pushing new boundaries thanks to snowboarders like 20-year-old Sadowski-Synnott and Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi, who yesterday attempted a frontside triple cork 1260 — a trick that had never been tried before in the women’s competition.
“The progression you have in women’s snowboarding has been so big, and just to be part of the show today made me really happy,” Gasser said. “Honestly, I don’t know if I would have been on the level if it wasn’t for Zoi and the other girls pushing me to my limits.”
SKIING
AFP, YANQING, China
Corinne Suter yesterday confirmed Switzerland’s alpine skiing dominance at the Beijing Olympics when she streaked to victory in the women’s downhill for the country’s fourth gold and fifth of the Games.
The 27-year-old clocked 1 minute, 31.87 seconds down the 2.7km-long “Rock” course in Yanqing, China, finishing 0.16 seconds ahead of defending champion Sofia Goggia of Italy, whose silver capped a remarkable return to form after she injured her knee in a crash last month.
Italian Nadia Delago claimed bronze, 0.57 seconds adrift of Suter.
“I’m super happy with my run,” Suter said. “In the finish I wasn’t sure if it was good or not, because sometimes I had the feeling that there was wind against me, and then with me, and also from the side... It’s the biggest dream of my life.”
Suter became only the second skier since now-retired American Lindsey Vonn to win Olympic gold after the world title.
After her surprise silver medal, Goggia said: “I gave everything I could.”
“From zero to 10, my physical condition is about a five. I can barely bend my knee,” she said. “This has been really tough on me mentally. I took painkillers before the race.”
BIATHLON
Reuters, ZHANGJIAKOU, China
Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen yesterday kept his cool as Norway roared back to pull off a stunning win in the men’s 4x7.5km biathlon relay at the Beijing Olympics following a sensational collapse on the final shoot by Russia’s Eduard Latypov.
The middle two legs of the race looked like a victory parade for the Russian Olympic Committee team, but a series of misses by Latypov destroyed their chances of gold, enabling Christiansen to coolly swoop in and claim the win for Norway.
“I was so calm [at the last shoot], I was completely in my own world and it’s hard to say what I thought ... but I’m very, very happy that we managed to do this turn around,” Christiansen said.
He crossed the line 27.4 seconds ahead of Quentin Fillon Maillet of France, with Latypov coming home 17.9 seconds further back.
Maillet was all the happier with his silver as it gave him a record five biathlon medals at one Olympics.
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