Category Archives: Sochi 2014

Figure Skating, Olympic Previews, Olympics, Sochi 2014

Figure Skating Preview

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The US has won multiple medals in figure skating at every Olympics except for one since 1994. The last time they won more than three though was in 1960. With a new event this year can the US win their most medals in 54 years?

The reigning Olympic men’s gold medalist is an American, but he’s not here this time. The US has been great in the ladies’ event, but they were held without a medal in Vancouver. Ice dancing has become a strong point for the US in recent years, but can the US medal for the third straight Olympics after not medaling in seven straight? If the US can medal in those three events (and that’s a big if of course) then a medal in the team event would give the US four. Certainly a possibility for the US in Sochi…

Figure Skating’s Olympic History

Figure Skating has been a part of the Olympics games longer than the Winter Olympics have existed! The first figure skating competitions were held at the 1908 Summer Olympics and again in the 1920 Summer Olympics. When the first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 men’s singles, ladies’ singles, and pairs events were a part of it and have remained ever since. Ice dancing became an Olympic event in 1976 and the program had remained unchanged since then until the new mixed team event will debut this year.

The US tops the medal chart by quite a bit with 46 medals. Their closest competitor is Russia who has 22 medals. Of course that doesn’t count the medals won by the old Soviet Union (24)  which shows you just how intense the rivalry between the US and Russia/the Soviet Union has been. 92 of the 240 total medals have been won between them. The US has 14 gold medals to the 12 by Russia. With Russia its been pretty make or break… 12 of their 22 medals are gold while the US has been pretty even with 14 golds, 16 silvers, and 16 bronzes.

How the Figure Skating Competitions Work

In mens, ladies, and pairs figure skating the short program is 2 minute and 50 seconds and the free skating is four minutes for ladies and 4 and a half minutes for men and pairs. In the short program there is a list of required elements that must be performed and if you go over the time limit you are penalized. In the free skating you are not, as you might think from the name, free to do whatever elements you want. There is more freedom, but they still restrict the types of elements they want in a program. You are to finish within 10 seconds of the limit either way in free skating.

These programs are scored using the ISU Judging System and to try and explain that in depth would take ages. Just know that there is no “perfect score” in figure skating anymore… this is not going for a perfect 6. Scores will be based on what elements are completed and how well they are executed. Sum the scores from the two parts (short and free) and you have your final scores. In these events the free skating competition will be limited to only the top performers from the short program. In Vancouver this was the Top 24.

Ice dancing uses the same scoring system but doesn’t involve throws and jumps. Think of it as… dancing… on ice. It involves a short dance, which is 1/2 a required pattern and 1/2 your own routine, and a free dance which is more up to the skaters (with the obvious required elements).

This will be the first time the team event is contested at the Olympics. It will involve one man, one woman, one pair, and one ice dancing couple competing in both the short and free routines. Add up the scores from everyone and you’ll have the team score.

US Team

The US Team is composed of two men and three women who will compete individually. There are also two couples who will be competing in the pairs event and three who will be competing in the ice dancing event. Four people on the team are back from Vancouver.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

US Figure Skating

Men:
Jeremy Abbott*
Jason Brown

Ladies:
Polina Edmunds
Gracie Gold
Ashley Wagner

Pairs:
Nathan Bartholomay & Felicia Zhang
Marissa Castelli & Simon Shnapir

Ice Dancing:
Evan Bates* & Madison Chock
Meryl Davis* & Charlie White*
Alex Shibutani & Maia Shibutani
* – Was on team in Vancouver

A Sochi 2014 Figure Skating list on twitter including all of these athletes

US Team’s Olympic History

Jeremy Abbott competed for the US in the men’s singles event in Vancouver. Abbott fell behind in the short program when he finished 15th but was better in the free program when he finished 9th and was able to pull his total score up enough to finish 9th overall, well behind 8th.

In Vancouver we saw Evan Bates compete in the ice dancing competition, but with a different partner in Emily Samuelson. Their compulsory dance (the event has changed some) routine left them in 14th and out of medal contention. They did improve on that in the original dance portion with an 11th place finish. Then there was a 3rd part, a free dance, where they also finished 11th. They ended up in 11th for their final standings.

Meryl Davis & Charlie White are back for their 2nd straight Olympics and will look to improve on Vancouver, though there isn’t much room for that! They started things off with a 3rd in the compulsory dance and despite finishing 2nd in both the original dance and free dance portions they couldn’t get any higher than 2nd overall.

Schedule

All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded

Thursday, February 6th
10:30 AM – Team Men’s Short Program
12:10 PM – Team Pairs’ Short Program

Saturday, February 8th
9:30 AM – Team Ice Dance Short Dance
11:10 AM – Team Ladies’ Short Program
1:05 PM – Team Pairs’ Free Skating

Sunday, February 9th
10 AM – Team Men’s Free Skating
11:05 AM – Team Ladies’ Free Skating
*12:10 PM – Team Ice Dance Free Dance

Tuesday, February 11th
10 AM – Pairs’ Short Program

Wednesday, February 12th
*10:45 AM – Pairs’ Free Skating

Thursday, February 13th
10 AM – Men’s Short Program

Friday, February 14th
*10 AM – Men’s Free Skating

Sunday, February 16th
10 AM – Ice Dance Short Dance

Monday, February 17th
*10 AM – Ice Dance Free Dance

Wednesday, February 19th
10 AM – Ladies’ Short Program

Thursday, February 20th
*10 AM – Ladies’ Free Skating

Saturday, February 22nd
11:30 AM – Gala Exhibition

US Team’s Recent World Championship History

The World Figure Skating Championship is held every year with the most recent in March 2013 in London, England.

Two of the ladies’ singles team competed in the World Championship. Ashley Wagner was 5th after the short program while Gracie Gold was in 9th. Wagner was 6th in the free program but still finished 5th overall while Gold was 5th in the free program and ended up 6th overall.

In the pairs’ event one of the US Olympic couples, Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir, competed and finished 13th in the short program and 12th in the free program to end up 13th overall.

Ice dancing is the most interesting to look at as all three US Olympic couples, Evan Bates & Madison Chock, Meryl Davis & Charlie White, and Alex Shibutani & Maia Shibutani, took part. The Shibutanis came in 8th in the short dance and 9th in the free dance to place 8th overall. Chock and Bates finished 7th in the short dance and 6th in the free dance but ended up 7th overall. Finally, Davis and White were the top couple in both the short dance and free dance to take home the gold medal. Davis and White were the only Americans to medal at the World Championship.

US Olympic History

The US as a country has won the men’s singles competition seven times, but only once since 1988. That was just four years ago when Evan Lysacek ended a Russian run that had reached four Olympics in a row. The US only has one bronze and one silver in addition to Lysacek’s gold since 1988. 

The US has had seven gold medals as well on the ladies’ side, but their success has been more recent with 3 of the 5 gold medal winners from 1992-2002 coming from the US. The last two Olympics have not been kind for the US though as Sasha Cohen’s silver in Torino is the only medal for the US. In Vancouver the US was held without a medal on the ladies’ side for the first time since 1964; though Mirai Nagasu came close, finishing in 4th.

The US has never won the pairs competition and all three of their silver medals were won by 1984. The last US pair to medal, Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard, won bronze in 1988. In Vancouver the top scoring US team of Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig finished in 10th.

For many years ice dancing was perhaps the hardest figure skating event for the US to medal in. After grabbing a bronze in the debut of the event in 1976 the US did not win another medal until 2006. Now the US has won 2 straight silver medals and is looking to grab that elusive gold in Sochi. Meryl Davis and Charlie White are back for their 2nd straight Olympics after grabbing the silver in Vancouver.

The new team event has no Olympic history so far.

Freestyle Skiing, Olympic Previews, Olympics, Sochi 2014

Freestyle Skiing Preview

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The US has the most medals of all countries in freestyle skiing and won four medals in Vancouver including a gold in women’s moguls. That was the first time the US had won a gold though since they won 3 in Nagano 16 years ago and was a huge improvement on winning only a single bronze in Turin. Can the US duplicate their success from Vancouver and take home another gold in Sochi?

Freestyle Skiing’s Olympic History

Freestyle skiing started as a demonstration event in 1988 and became an official event in 1992. After having 4 events from 1994 through 2006 two made a debut in 2010 while four more events will debut this year. Only men’s and women’s moguls and aerials have been part of the freestyle skiing program since its debut.

The US has been the top country in freestyle skiing with 14 medals, but that’s only a share of the 72 total medals awarded. 16 countries othr than the US have been awarded medals including 12 who have won gold medals. The US does have the most gold medals as well with six of the 24 awarded.

How the Freestyle Skiing Competitions Work

The first freestyle skiing events will be in the moguls category. Moguls involves the athlete skiing down a hill that has a lot of moguls (bumps) on it. An athlete is not just judged based on their speed in moguls (though that is an element). They are also judged on how well they turn through the moguls and how they do on two jumps in the course. Their will be a qualifying run to get the field down to the top 20 and then a final run that will determine the medal winners.

Next up will be the ski slopestyle competition. This is a new event this year in the Olympics. If you read the snowboarding preview you’ll know most of how this works. The athletes ski down a slope that has various obstacles and jumps on it. They’ll perform tricks on the obstacles and be judged on their tricks. Athletes will get two runs to try to get their best score. There will be a qualifying round and then a final round to determine the medalists.

After the slopestyle competition the Olympics will return to one of the original events, aerials. In aerials an athlete will make two runs, each consisting of a single jump and be judged on those jumps. And these jumps are pretty legit with some great air, no moguls here. Combining the score from the two jumps will determine each athletes total score. In qualifying the top 12 athletes based on their two jumps will move on to the final round. The final round is contested the same way to determine the medal winners.

Next up will be another newcomer, the ski halfpipe event. This event is run just like the aforementioned slopestyle competition, except in a halfpipe instead of on a slope with obstacles. Essentially it’s the same event as the snowboard halfpipe event, just on skis.

The final competition is the ski cross competition. This event is back for its 2nd straight Olympics. This analogous event here is snowboard cross. An individual run down the course will determine the top 32 times and the four man groups for the 1/8 finals. Once we reach this point the top two in each four man run will advance to the next round as we go from 32 to 16 to 8 to 4 and then our medalists.

US Team

The team is made up of 12 men and 14 women. Only five of the 26 athletes were part of the team in Vancouver while two of them were part of the team in Salt Lake City.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

US Freestyle Skiing

Men:
Aaron Blunck – Halfpipe
Mac Bohonnon – Aerials
Bobby Brown – Slopestyle
Joss Christensen – Slopestyle
Lyman Currier – Halfpipe
Patrick Deneen* – Moguls
Nick Goepper – Slopestyle
Gus Kenworthy – Slopestyle
John Teller – Ski cross
Bradley Wilson – Moguls
David Wise – Halfpipe
Torin Yater-Wallace – Halfpipe

Women:
Maddie Bowman – Halfpipe
Ashley Caldwell* – Aerials
Emily Cook** – Aerials
Annalisa Drew – Halfpipe
Keri Herman – Slopestyle
Hannah Kearney** – Moguls
Heidi Kloser – Moguls
Julia Krass – Slopestyle
Devin Logan – Slopestyle
Heather McPhie* – Moguls
Eliza Outtrim – Moguls
Brita Sigourney – Halfpipe
Angeli VanLaanen – Halfpipe
Maggie Voisin – Slopestyle
* – Was on team in Vancouver
** – Was on team in Vancouver & Turin

A Sochi 2014 Freestyle Skiing list on twitter including all of these athletes

US Team’s Olympic History

Patrick Deneen is the only man on the freestyle skiing team with previous Olympic experience. Deneen was on the team in Vancouver competing in moguls where he qualified in 10th for the finals. Deneen was unable to land a clean run in the final and thus was not scored finishing in 19th.

In Vancouver Ashley Caldwell competed in the aerials event. After finishing 16th on her first jump Caldwell posted a top ten jump on her 2nd and qualified for the finals in the 12th and final place. In the finals Caldwell finished 10th.

Emily Cook also competed in that same aerials event. Cook did a bit better in qualifying where she finished fifth including the third best score on the second jump. Unfortunately Cook couldn’t keep that same form in the final where she ended up 11th of 12 competitors. Cook’s 11th place finish was an improvement on Turin where she was unable to get out of the qualifying phase as she finished 19th.

One of the US stars in Vancouver was Hannah Kearney who had the best qualifying run in moguls and followed that back up with the top final run to win the gold medal by almost a full point with a score of 26.63. Kearney’s success was a big accomplishment after a disappointing Turin Olympics where she finished 22nd in the qualifying run and didn’t advance to the final.

Heather McPhie was also in the moguls competition for the US in Vancouver and did post the third best qualifying run. Unfortunately for McPhie she wasn’t able to duplicate that run in the final and after some mistakes finished in 18th place.

Schedule

All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Thursday, February 6th
9 AM – Women’s Moguls Qualification 1

Saturday, February 8th
9 AM – Women’s Moguls Qualification 2
1 PM – Women’s Moguls Final 1
1:35 PM – Women’s Moguls Final 2
*2:10 PM – Women’s Moguls Final 3

Monday, February 10th
9 AM – Men’s Moguls Qualification 1
9:50 AM – Men’s Moguls Qualification 2
1 PM – Men’s Moguls Final 1
1:35 PM – Men’s Moguls Final 2
*2:10 PM – Men’s Moguls Final 3

Tuesday, February 11th
1 AM – Women’s Ski Slopestyle Qualification
*4 AM – Women’s Ski Slopestyle Final

Thursday, February 13th
1:15 AM – Men’s Ski Slopestyle Qualification
*4:30 AM – Men’s Ski Slopestyle Final

Friday, February 14th
8:45 AM – Women’s Aerials Qualification 1
9:30 AM – Women’s Aerials Qualification 2
12:30 PM – Women’s Aerials Final 1
12:55 PM – Women’s Aerials Final 2
*1:12 PM – Women’s Aerials Final 3

Saturday, February 15th
8:45 AM – Men’s Aerials Qualification 1
9:30 AM – Men’s Aerials Qualification 2
12:30 PM – Men’s Aerials Final 1
12:55 PM – Men’s Aerials Final 2
*1:12 PM – Men’s Aerials Final 3

Tuesday, February 18th
8:45 AM – Men’s Ski Halfpipe Qualification
*12:30 PM – Men’s Ski Halfpipe Final

Thursday, February 20th
2:45 AM – Men’s Ski Cross Seeding
4:30 AM – Men’s Ski Cross 1/8 Finals
5:05 AM – Men’s Ski Cross Quarterfinals
5:25 AM – Men’s Ski Cross Semifinals
*5:39 AM – Men’s Ski Cross Finals
9:30 AM – Women’s Ski Halfpipe Qualification
*12:30 PM – Women’s Ski Halfpipe Final

US Team’s Recent World Championship History

The FIS Freestyle World Ski Championship is held every couple of years with the most recent in March 2013 in Voss, Norway.

The men’s moguls event featured US Olympians Patrick Deneen and Bradley Wilson. Both had great first qualifying runs and reached the final without needing a second run. In the final Wilson came in eighth but Deneen put up a great time and took home the bronze.

In ski cross John Teller had a good qualifying run, 11th best overall, and easily qualified for the 1/8 round. Teller won his 1/8 final and then snuck through to the semifinals with a second place finish in his quarterfinal group. He then got into the final by finishing second in his semifinal. In the final he came in 3rd to take home the bronze.

Three of the four US Olympians in the halfpipe event took part in the world championship. All three made it through to the final with David Wise second in qualifying, Torin Yater-Wallace in third, and Aaron Blunck in ninth. All three were very competitive in the final with only Blunck not medaling in sixth. The US ended up going one-two as David Wise took the gold and Torin Yater-Wallace taking the silver.

In the slopestyle competition two US Olympians competed with both Nick Goepper (1st) and Gus Kenworthy (5th) advancing to the final. Kenworthy slipped to sixth in the final while Goepper slipped as well but still took home the bronze medal.

On the women’s side in the moguls competition three of the four US Olympians were part of the field. All three made the final after qualifying as Hannah Kearney finished first, Heather McPhie was third, and Eliza Outtrim was sixth. Kearney was able to keep her place at the top in the final while McPhie had a poor second run and finished fourth. Outtrim had a poor first run and ended up 13th.

Two US Olympians took part in the halfpipe event. Angeli VanLaanen put up a good first run so second run problems still left her in seventh and qualified for the final. Annalisa Drew didn’t score as high in qualifying but still was tenth, moving her into the final as well. In the final neither skiier could match their qualifying scores and VanLaanen ended up sixth with Drew ending up ninth.

In the aerials event Emily Cook was going for the US. Cook used her second qualifying run to reach the final. She wasn’t able to reach the top eight in the final though after one run so she was eliminated and finished in 10th.

US Olympic History

The men’s moguls competition is one of the originals and the US has medaled in five of the six competitions so far, only failing in 1994. Unfortunately these five medals have only resulted in one gold (1998) and one silver (2002). In Vancouver Bryon Wilson came in third for the US to grab the bronze.

In the five Olympics that have had the men’s aerials competition the US has won three medals, a gold (1998) and two silvers, and has medaled in three of the last four Olympics. In Vancouver Jeret Peterson was top dog for the US as he grabbed the silver.

With only one Olympics so far ski cross doesn’t have a deep medal history, and that history doesn’t include the US at all. The US had two skiers in the field but after Casey Puckett led the way by qualifying 18th both were knocked out in the 1/8 round. Nowhere but up from there for John Teller this year!

The women’s side has been a bit brighter lately for the US. The Americans won two medals in moguls for the first time in Vancouver with Hannah Kearney taking the gold and Shannon Bahrke grabbing bronze. They have now won five medals overall including two golds in women’s moguls. Duplicating the two medals this time will be a challenge for the US!

Women’s aerials hasn’t been so kind to the US with only one medal by the US out of the five Olympics its been contested in. That was a gold won by Nikki Stone in 1998. In Vancouver the US placed three in the final 12 but all struggled in the final with Lacy Schnoor the top finisher from the US in 9th.

The halfpipe and slopestyle competitions are in their first year, so of course there’s no history at the Olympics in those events.

Olympic Previews, Olympics, Snowboarding, Sochi 2014

Snowboarding Preview

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The US has been the best nation in snowboarding at the Olympics, but with four new events this year the program has changed again. The US holds the record with seven snowboarding medals in Turin. With 20 competitors competing in a combined 22 events, can the US top that in Sochi?

Snowboarding’s Olympic History

Snowboarding is one of the newer sports in the Olympics having made its debut in 1998. Snowboarding began with just four events: halfpipe and giant slalom for both men and women. The events have changed some since then and with four new events this year there are now ten, five each for men and women. Only the halfpipe competitions remain from the original program in 1998.

The US has dominated in snowboarding winning 22 of the 63 available medals. The closest competitor is Switzerland who has won nine medals and five golds (compared to seven for the US). In all 14 nations have medaled in snowboarding with seven of them winning golds.

How the Snowboarding Competitions Work

The first events held in Sochi will be in the slopestyle category. It will be the debut of this even in the Olympics. Athletes will snowboard down a slope that involves jumps, rails, and other obstacles that allow them to perform tricks and jumps. They are then judged on these tricks and jumps and given a score. The competitions involve a qualifying round, a semifinal round, and then a final round. In each round the competitors get two runs and the best scoring athletes move into the next round.

The halfpipe competition is conducted similarly, though the runs are in a halfpipe instead of down a mountain slope. In Vancouver they took the top nine scorers from two qualifying heats to advance to the semifinals. They gave the top three from each heat byes into the final round while the other 12 snowboarders competed in the semifinals for six more spots in the final round.

Snowboard cross is a race event over a course that includes obstacles such as jumps and moguls. On the women’s side qualifying runs will determine the top 16 competitors and they’ll be divided into groups of four for quarterfinal runs where the top two finishers in each group move on. After the same is down with two groups of four semifinalists we’ll have the field for the final group of four for the medal race.  The men’s side is conducted the same way except their qualifying gets them down to 32 and they have one more round of group of four racing before the quarterfinals.

Parallel giant slalom is another racing event, but this time instead of competing in groups of four the athletes will compete head-to-head with the winner moving on. The qualifying runs for this event setup a bracket featuring the top 16 athletes. The quicker athlete down the course in the matchups after that move on. Red and blue flags dictate which side an athlete must go causing the back and forth turning down the slope.

Parallel slalom is conducted similarly to the parallel giant slalom event. The difference is the flags are closer together and the course a lot shorter. This requires the athletes to make quicker cuts back and forth than in giant slalom where they can go faster down the course overall.

US Team

The US team is 12 men and 11 women. Eight of the athletes were part of the team in Vancouver while five were also on the team in Turin and one was even part of the team in Salt Lake City.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

US Snowboarding

Men:
Nick Baumgartner* – Snowboard cross
Greg Bretz* – Halfpipe
Danny Davis – Halfpipe
Alex Deibold – Snowboard cross
Taylor Gold – Halfpipe
Chas Guldemond – Slopestyle
Nate Holland** – Snowboard cross
Trevor Jacob – Snowboard cross
Sage Kotsenburg – Slopestyle
Justin Reiter – Parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom
Ryan Stassel – Slopestyle
Shaun White** – Halfpipe and slopestyle

Women:
Jamie Anderson – Slopestyle
Kelly Clark*** – Halfpipe
Kaitlyn Farrington – Halfpipe
Arielle Gold – Halfpipe
Faye Gulini* – Snowboard cross
Jackie Hernandez – Snowboard cross
Lindsey Jacobellis** – Snowboard cross
Jessika Jensen – Slopestyle
Karly Shorr – Slopestyle
Hannah Teter** – Halfpipe
Ty Walker – Slopestyle
* – Was on team in Vancouver
** – Was on team in Vancouver & Turin
*** – Was on team in Vancouver, Turin & Salt Lake City

A Sochi 2014 Snowboarding list on twitter including all of these athletes

US Team’s Olympic History

Nick Baumgartner is back for his 2nd straight Olympics in the men’s snowboard cross event. In Vancouver Baumgartner finished 13th in qualifying, 2nd best of all Americans, but was eliminated when he came in last in his 1/8 final.

In Vancouver Greg Bretz competed in the men’s halfpipe competition. He qualified in 4th from his heat into the semifinals and reached the finals after finishing 2nd in the semifinals. Unfortunately he couldn’t put a solid run together in the final and finished 12th.

Nate Holland competed for the US in snowboard cross in Vancouver. Holland came in 15th in the qualification round but finished 1st in his group in the 1/8 finals, 2nd in the quarterfinals, and 1st in the semifinals to reach the final round. Sadly he came in last in the final, the only one of the final four not to medal. It was an improvement though on his Turin performance. In Turin he was better in qualifying (7th) but got knocked out when he finished 4th in his quarterfinal group. He went on to be ranked 14th in the final standings.

Shaun White was one of the show stealers in Vancouver. White put up the top qualifying score to advance straight to the finals. In the finals his first run was better than what anyone else could do through two runs, leaving him at the top of the halfpipe with a gold medal guaranteed. This allowed him to really go for it on his 2nd run… and the result was a spectacular 48.4 score.  In 2006 White competed in the same halfpipe competition in Turin. He was 7th after his first run (top 6 automatically moved you to the final) but he put up a 45.3 on his 2nd run to post the top score of any qualifying run and reach the final. In the final he was by far the best and won the gold.

In Vancouver Kelly Clark was the top US athlete in qualifying in the halfpipe competition. Her score of 45.4 was good enough to get her straight to the final. Unfortunately she couldn’t match that score in the final and her top score of 42.2 was only enough for a bronze. Clark’s bronze though was an improvement on Turin. After being the best athlete on her first qualifying run her two runs in the final left her in 4th with a 41.1, knowing her qualifying run would have gotten her a silver if she’d done it during the finals. Clark does have a gold medal in her history though, won on American soil when she had the best qualifying run and best final run (47.9) in Salt Lake City.

Faye Gulini is back for her 2nd straight Olympics in the snowboard cross event. In Vancouver Gulini was 12th in qualifying but finished 3rd in her quarterfinal to end her Olympics.

Lindsey Jacobellis was the most successful US woman in snowboard cross in Vancouver. Jacobellis qualified in 2nd place and won her quarterfinal, but her semifinal run found her in 4th in her group and despite winning the consolation final she placed just 5th. Competing in the same event in Turin she was 3rd in qualifying and after advancing through the quarterfinals and semifinals she was 2nd in the final to win a silver medal.

Hannah Teter just out did her teammate Kelly Clark in the halfpipe in Vancouver. After finishing 4th in the qualifying runs she moved straight to the final where her score of 42.4 just edged out Clark to get a silver medal. The silver though was a step down from Turin where she raised her score significantly from 39.9 in qualifying to 46.4 on her 2nd run in the final, taking home a gold medal with the best run of the event.

Schedule

All Times ET, * indicates medals awarded
Thursday, February 6th
1 AM – Men’s Slopestyle Qualification
5 AM – Women’s Slopestyle Qualification

Saturday, February 8th
12:30 AM – Men’s Slopestyle Semifinals
*3:45 PM – Men’s Slopestyle Finals

Sunday, February 9th
1:30 AM – Women’s Slopestyle Semifinals
*4:15 AM – Women’s Slopestyle Finals

Tuesday, February 11th
5 AM – Men’s Halfpipe Qualification
10 AM – Men’s Halfpipe Semifinals
*12:30 PM – Men’s Halfpipe Finals

Wednesday, February 12th
5 AM – Women’s Halfpipe Qualification
10 AM – Women’s Halfpipe Semifinals
*12:30 PM – Women’s Halfpipe Finals

Sunday, February 16th
2 AM – Women’s Snowboard Cross Seeding
4:15 AM – Women’s Snowboard Cross Quarterfinals
4:31 AM – Women’s Snowboard Cross Semifinals
*4:45 AM – Women’s Snowboard Cross Finals

Monday, February 17th
2 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross Seeding
4:30 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross 1/8 Finals
5:01 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross Quarterfinals
5:13 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross Semifinals
*5:17 AM – Men’s Snowboard Cross Finals

Wednesday, February 19th
12:15 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Qualification
4 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom 1/8 Finals
4:24 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Quarterfinals
4:37 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Semifinals
*4:48 AM – Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom Finals

Saturday, February 22nd
12:15 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom Qualification
4:15 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom 1/8 Finals
4:31 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom Quarterfinals
4:50 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom Semifinals
*5:03 AM – Men’s Parallel Slalom Finals

US Team’s Recent World Championship History

The FIS Snowboarding World Championship is held every couple of years with the most recent in January 2013 in Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury, Quebec. I’m sure you’re all familiar with that locale. Not all of the top competitors competed, at least in part because the Winter X Games ran during some of the same time. Why anyone would allow that to happen is beyond me…

In the men’s halfpipe competition the only US Olympian to compete was Taylor Gold. Gold finished in 20th place in the qualifying round just missing out on a chance to move into the semifinals.

The snowboard cross event did feature US Olympian Nick Baumgartner. Baumgartner had the fifth best qualifying round run and won his 1/8 final to reach the quarterfinals. He placed second in his quarterfinal to reach the semifinals but his run ended there as he finished last in his semifinal group. He did win the small (consolation) final to finish seventh overall.

In the slopestyle competition three US Olympians, Ryan Stassel, Sage Kostenburg, and Chas Guldemond all made it through the qualifying round into the final. In the final Kostenburg never landed a clean run and finished 20th, Guldemond finished 11th, and Ryan Stassel came in seventh.

In the parallel giant slalom event Justin Reiter had a solid qualifying run to place himself 10th for the elimination bracket. He was however knocked out by the seven seen in the round of 16.

Reiter was also competing in the parallel slalom event where his qualifying run was even a little better placing him seventh. Reiter knocked off the ten seed and then beat the #15 seed and the three seed to reach the final. In the final Reiter finished 0.6 seconds too late and ended up with the silver medal.

On the women’s side in the snowboard cross competition the only US Olympian was Faye Gulini. Gulini placed 15th in her qualifying run to reach the quarterfinals but finished 4th in her group to end her stay.

There were two US Olympians in the halfpipe competition, Arielle Gold and Kaitlyn Farrington. Both qualified for the final in their qualifying run though neither could match their qualifying scores in the final. For Farrington that meant finishing in 4th but Gold was still able to post the top score in the final and take home the world championship.

The slopestyle competition featured two of the American Olympians, Ty Walker and Jessika Jenson. Jenson finished the qualifying round in 9th place, which unfortunately in this competition doesn’t advance you at all. Walker however finished 4th to move into the six woman final. In the final Walker couldn’t land a clean run and finished 5th.

US Olympic History

The US has dominated the men’s halfpipe competition in the four Olympics where it has been contested. Three straight gold medal winners have come from the US and the US has had multiple medalists the last three times including a sweep of the medal stand in Salt Lake City.

The men’s parallel giant slalom competition hasn’t been so kind. The US has won just won medal, a bronze in 2002, in this competition. In Vancouver there were two men in the round of 16, seeded 7th and 16th, for the US. The 16th seed advanced on a disqualification of his opponent and finished 7th overall while the 7th seed was eliminated in the round of 16.

Men’s snowboard cross has produced back-to-back gold medals from the US, but Seth Wescott is not back to defend those so the US will have to find a new champion if they want to win three straight.

On the women’s side the US has been the best country in halfpipe, though not as dominant as the men. Six of the 12 medals have gone to the US including two of the four golds. The US has won multiple medals in consecutive Olympics, but they haven’t won the gold since 2006.

In the two Olympics where women’s snowboard cross has been contested the US has only a single silver medal so far. Last year Lindsey Jacobellis came in 4th in her semifinal and ended up 5th overall.

The new Olympic events of slopestyle and parallel slalom are in the first Olympics, so no history to speak of there.