Winter Olympics men’s ski halfpipe final: USA aim for podium sweep – live!

Austria’s Andreas Gohl goes big early, but he puts a hand down on one of his landings, and in this competition, that’ll keep him out of the top six. It’s a 68.80, currently seventh, one place ahead of Yater-Wallace.

Nine riders to go, assuming Krief doesn’t feel up to another run after his first-run crash.

He’s a happy teenager …

One more run to go, only the best run counts …

1. Ferreira (USA), 96.00
2. Porteous (New Zealand), 94.80
3. Bowman (Canada), 89.40
4. Wells (New Zealand), 87.40
5. Riddle (Canada), 85.40
6. Blunck (USA), 81.40

Ferreira (USA), 96.00

That took a long time.

Aaron Blunck (USA) can’t follow that. He has an early fall, then does his Elizabeth Swaney impression down the pipe.

The USA’s Alex Ferreira was our leader until a 16-year-old from New Zealand redefined freestyle skiing a few minutes ago. I’m assuming every trick he landed is a double cork 1260. The commentator says it’s five, matching Porteous.

If this were a cumulative-score event, Ferreira would surely be in first place. This will be 90 points. But will it be 95, for first place?

The judges are taking an eternity …

The USA’s Torin Yater-Wallace had a very good first run, but when your butt hits the snow, you’re not going to medal with that run. But maybe with this one?

Yikes … he was going so well but hit the lip of the pipe on his last jump. He leaped 6.5 meters out of the pipe.

Why can you fall multiple times and still medal in figure skating, but one little slip in snowboarding and freestyle skiing is a no-no? I don’t get it. That was an amazing run until it wasn’t.

New Zealand’s Beau-James Wells has an hard but upright landing deep in the pipe, and he spends the rest of the run doing relatively simple tricks. By “relatively simple,” I mean, “things 99.999% of the population couldn’t do in a million years.”

We’re all looking up Nico Porteous factoids because … he had no podiums in anything before this.

Meanwhile, France’s Kevin Rolland just fell again, and he looks like he’s going to smash something in the finish area.

Canada’s Mike Riddle manages a double cork 1260 at the beginning and the end, but he goes for one more trick and … he just falls in slow motion. It looked good for a while, but perhaps not as good as the 85.40 he posted in the first run, so that slip won’t really matter.

The USA’s David Wise hops in by switching stances, and then he crashes on his first trick. He hops back up the pipe to retrieve a ski.

“Oh, that’s so unlucky!” he exclaims at the finish. “So brutal!”

Canada’s Noah Bowman goes for air sans flips/tricks on the first hit, and he didn’t seem happy. He lands hard and decides not to attempt anything else, skiing gently down to the bottom of the pipe.

New Zealand’s Nico Porteous starts with a double cork 1440, which I think is the first we’ve seen. Then two more double 1260s. This kid’s just 16?

How is this not first place?

Oh, wait, it is. 94.80.

On a down note, France’s Thomas Krief doesn’t take his second run after that nasty spill in the first.

Austria’s Andreas Gohl loses some momentum and then slips again.

Remember: Two more runs to go, and only the top run counts. So the current threshold to make the podium is 87.40.

1. Ferreira (USA), 92.60
2. Bowman (Canada), 89.40
3. Wells (New Zealand), 87.40
4. Riddle (Canada), 85.40
5. Porteous (New Zealand), 82.40
6. Blunck (USA), 81.40
7. Yater-Wallace (USA), 65.20

The other runs weren’t completed, so let’s ignore those scores. And another reminder: Byron Wells was injured in practice and is not competing.

The USA’s Aaron Blunck, first in qualifying and therefore last to make a run here, takes a bit of time to settle himself before starting. He doesn’t start with the double cork 1260 but works his way into it, building up to a 1260 toward the end. His landings aren’t quite as smooth, but it was otherwise clean with a couple of impressive grabs.

Maybe 83? Not quite — 81.40. Sixth place.

The USA’s Alex Ferreira starts with the double cork 1260, then hits another later. I didn’t see the variety of grabs and flips that I saw from others, but … oops, he just said a bad word. In a good way. It’s safe to say he’s excited.

And he takes the lead with a 92.60.

The USA’s Torin Yater-Wallace is a study in perseverance just like his girlfriend, ski jumper Sarah Hendrickson. I’m taking their word for it that it was only a 1260 — I lost count of his rotations as he went 5.8 meters in the air.

But this won’t be a run to make the podium. He hits his rear end on one of the landings, which will surely keep him from reaching the 80s. Indeed, it’s a 65.20.

New Zealand’s Beau-James Wells, who gets bonus points for the correct spelling of “Beau,” will get a few more bonus points for a good variety of grabs amidst all the double corking. He flips in the way we all hope never to experience in an airplane.

Will that go over 90? Not yet. 87.40, behind Bowman.

France’s Kevin Rolland, the Sochi bronze medalist, wipes out on his first trick.

Canada’s Mike Riddle was the runner-up in Sochi, an impressive achievement for someone whose bio photo makes him look like a member of Kids in the Hall. He gets as high as six meters in the air, starts with the de rigueur double cork 1260 and lands a couple more double corks. His landings don’t seem as clean as Bowman’s, and he settles into second between Bowman and Porteous.

Defending champion David Wise of the USA joins the parade of double corks and goes 5.5 meters in the air, but he becomes separated from a ski.

Canada’s Noah Bowman goes mostly for air on his first trick, then spins wildly for a double cork 1260. He does three double corks, all going backwards, then switches stances just to remind us he can.

It’s an 89.40, and that might already help him improve on his fifth-place finish from Sochi.

France’s Thomas Krief is down. And he takes quite a while to get back to his feet. He’s grimacing but holding up a hand as if to say he’s OK. We’ll see if he can make it out for a second run.

New Zealand’s Nico Porteous says “sun’s out, guns out” to the camera at the start gate. In American English, that means you’re wearing a tank top to show off your “guns.” Porteous, as one would expect in subzero (Celsius) temperatures, is properly dressed.

And this is quite impressive. A double cork 1260 and many more flips and spins in crazy directions, all with solid landings.

An 82.40 actually seems a little harsh. But the 16-year-old is happy. Stoked, even.

Austria’s Andreas Gohl gets us started. Double cork (off-axis, like a corkscrew) 1260 to start with more than 5 meters of amplitude (height). That’ll get our attention. Unfortunately, he lands on his side about halfway down the pipe and has to stop to collect a ski that is no longer attached.

New Zealand’s Byron Wells is out. He qualified fourth, but he’s listed as DNS on the start list.

His brother, Beau-James Wells, is still in.

Five countries, three medals

The first five skiers to go represent five different countries: Austria, New Zealand, France, Canada and the USA.

Then we hit the reruns. One more Canadian. One more Frenchman. Two more from New Zealand. Then the three Americans who led the way in qualifying.

The first American, finishing eighth in qualifying, is actually the defending champion, David Wise. He also won the X Games last month.

Now you see why we’re talking about a possible U.S. sweep.

If you want to see how Aaron Blunck led the way in qualifying, check it out.

Two minutes to go …

Meanwhile, Switzerland is putting an awful lot of pressure on the British curlers as they try to stay in contention.

And I won’t spoil the big air competition. Go back and watch. A lot of tricks didn’t land, but the gold and silver medalists were spectacular.

Competition format

They’ll go in reverse order from how they finished in qualifying. That’s the only relevance of the qualifying scores here. They’ll take three runs, all in the same order, and only the best run counts.

And the site that confirmed this format for me also has a good explanation of the judging:

Five international judges evaluate a competitor’s performance according to the overall impression of the run. The scores range from 0 to 100 points and are averaged. The judges evaluate the sequences of tricks, the amount of risk in the routine and how the competitor uses the course. The judges take falls, full stops, over rotations, minor mistakes and other components into consideration and make deductions based upon the nature of the mistakes.

Don’t know a cab from a cork? (Shouldn’t the cork be removed before consuming a nice cab?) Here’s the best explanation of such things that I’ve found.

For judging purposes, just think “air” and “variety.” Judges want to see skiers go high in the air and demonstrate a diverse array of tricks. They can diversity things by spinning with more rotations (720, 900, 1080, 1260, 1440, etc.), grabbing different parts of the skis and spinning in different directions. The last one is big. Going backwards is good.

I’m warming up for this by watching the snowboard big air competition, which is taking place at one end of a soccer stadium. The ski jumps are at the other end. So the person who suggested “ski jump jousting” as the next Olympic event might have a suitable venue.

The good news about watching skiers doing all these tricks rather than snowboarders is that it’ll be more obvious that the athletes have changed directions. You’ll see them going backwards on their skis.

And that’s the only trick mastered by the now-famous Elizabeth Swaney of Hungary (well, California, by way of Venezuela) who laid down this fantastic run in qualifying.

You will not see such a run in this final.

Good evening everyone.

If you’re confused about the freestyle skiing halfpipe, let’s offer a quick explanation …

It’s just like the snowboard halfpipe, but with skis.

Got it? Good. Competition starts in an hour.

Beau will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s the extraordinary story of Torin Yater-Wallace journey to the Games:

Torin Yater-Wallace persevered through family tragedy, life-threatening illness and devastating injury to earn a spot on the US men’s ski halfpipe team in Pyeongchang, where he will make his second Olympic appearance starting with Tuesday afternoon’s qualifying runs (Monday night in the United States). In many ways, his life resembles the countless heart-wrenching but ultimately uplifting narratives that crop up around each Games. These poignant stories, which give mainstream audiences a sense of personal investment in sports they watch once every four years, typically follow the same formula: it starts with a dream, then talent and hard work are added to the mix before a heaping amount of adversity is introduced to heighten the drama. It’s an effective emotional hook, conditioning viewers to reach for the tissues with Pavlovian regularity each time those bellowing trumpets lean into John Williams’ familiar Olympic anthem.

But Yater-Wallace’s story isn’t typical, and neither is the reason he decided to share it. The 22-year-old is not “reaching out for sympathy”, telling the Guardian that his choice to open up about his struggles is “more about empathy” and the potential to create greater understanding in the world. The skier proves that he, much like his free-spirited sport, can’t be reduced to a simple formula.

You can read the full story here: