Here are some random thoughts on the snow events at the Winter Olympics - stream of consciousness style as they occured to me in no particular order.
Alpine Skiing - I watch men's and women's downhill, Super-G and slalom. The speed! The turns! The air! The drones! The events appear to be dominated by Swiss, Germans, Italians, Americans and Canadians (This may be a huge generalisation - but Scandianvians appear to stick to the cross-country events).
In the Women's Downhill there are multiple stories of broken and fractured bones along with torn and rupputed ACLs. Lindsey Vonn is airlifted/ stretchered off. Breezy Johnson (USA - natch - born Breanna; changed her name just before her high school graduation, legally adopting the nickname given to her by her grandmother) was previoulsy out for 14 months with a broken leg and shattered knee. She makes a big mistake, coming from .03 seconds down to be up by .84, and finally leading by over a second. Snoop Dogg is there and loving it. Emma Aicher (Germany) is 'loose on all the jumps' but still takes silver. The Italian, Sofia Goggia takes bronze to the delight of the home crowd. 'Throwing it down' seems to be the expression of choice. When Frederica Brignone wins the women's Super-G for Italy, the equivalent of the red arrows fly overhead.
There are various 'combined' events, some of which are new to the Olympics, in which athletes perform a couple of disciplines, and sometimes they pair up for no apparent reason (other than it creates an extra medal possibility) and compete as a team. In this manner people do combinations such as downhill and slalom or ski jumping and cross-country.
Incidentally, there are two ski jumps, one called the 'normal' hill and one the 'large hill'. The 'normal' hill looks pretty large to me, and it's an amazing feat full of noise from drones, crowds and the skis on the ramp, and then... wheeee! Look, ma, I'm flying! There is a scandal over the ski-jumping suits, some of which are modified to increase lift by expanding the crotch area. When this was discovered, it led to a rule change at the Olympics including the use of microchips in suits to prevent further cheating, and major scrutiny of the competitors' nether regions. Obviously, this quickly becomes known as 'penisgate' and delights all the media.
In the skiathlon, the athletes start all together for 10km of classic (in the grooves) and then switch skis for 10km of free (or skate). They push themselves to the edge of their limits, and the race is dominated by Scandinavians with a couple of Canadians and Americans. It ends with gold and silver to the Swedes with Norway taking third place. This is the first of many snow-based battles between these two-nations.
The athleticism on display at the Biathlon Mixed Team Relay is exceptional - how they can sprint that hard and then calm their heart rate that quickly in order to fire that accurately is phenomenal. The event is marred, however, by possibly the most annoying commentator I have ever heard. She sounds like a Kiwi, so her accent is irritating to start with, and then she insists on placing equal emphasis on every single syllable. She may think this makes her sound more dramatic, but as she is simply repeating inane drivel, it is excruciating.
There is stunning shooting from the biathletes in the women's 7.5km sprint. The winner, Maren Kirkeeide (NOR) and the runner-up, the fabulously named Oceane Michelon (FRA) both shoot completely clean, and there are huge cheers from the crowds for local hero Liza Vittozzi (ITA), who also shoots clean but is 40 seconds behind the leader and ends up in fifth position - Lou Jeanmonnot, also of France, takes bronze. It is tough conditions, snowing hard and very misty; the floodlights are on, sining through the gloom. There are lots of what we used to call French plaits on show (I don't know if they have another name now) and Lithuania have the best outfits. There are 91 finishers in this event including an Aussie, Darcie Morton in 87th place, and a Brit, Shawna Pendry, who comes in at 89th.
In the men's 20km biathlon, the commentator is back and even more annoying than ever. There is drama after third-placed Sturla Holm Laegreid (NOR) uses his post-race interview to confess to cheating on his girlfriend. While the rest of Norway is celebrating their medals in the event - Johan-Olav Botn took gold, while silver went to Eric Perrot from France - Laegreid tells a reporter that he feels he has made the mistake of his life and that he is deeply regretful. He weeps, "I'm taking the consequences for what I've done", and when asked what on earth possessed him to out himself (and her) thus on live TV, he says, "I hope that committing social suicide might show how much I love her." It doesn't. The lady in question replies that the day should have belonged to gold medallist, Botn and that, "It's hard to forgive him. I didn't choose to be put in this position, and it's painful to have to endure it." Personally I feel there are questions to be asked about putting guns into the hands of incredibly fit, accurate, and emotionally volatile young men.
The Nordic Combined Team Sprint has great potential for chaos in the transition/ exchange zone, especially due to the heavy snow conditions and low light. There are wax technicians in the middle of the course and volunteers are sweeping snow off various areas so the athletes can see the coures. People are slipping and falling all over the place, and it looks so cold! In the Women's 4 x 7.5k relay, the Swedish frontrunner on leg 2 trips and breaks her ski - she has to run/ single skate to a pitstop where she can get a new ski. Her team powers back through the field to finish second, with Norway winning and Finland coming third.
The qualifications, quarter finals, semifinals and final of the X- Country Sprint Classic are all within 4hrs, making this seem like a great event to watch live at the venue. It's a brutal course involving double poling, uphill running, downhill cornering, and throwing one's body to the line. Norwegian Johannes Hosflot Klæbo is a legend of the snow; only three male athletes have more medals than Klæbo at the Winter Olympic Games and they are all Norwegian. He wins another one here, and Norway also get the bronze through Oskar Opstad Vike. Ben Ogden from the USA comes second, making him only the second American man to win an Olympic medal at Winter Games.Klæbo also wins the X-Country Skiing Men's 10km + 10km Skiathlon, and a Brit (Andrew Musgrave) comes 10th, which is very exciting.
In the X-Country Skiing Men's Team Sprint, the Swiss bloke on leg one looses a pole. He calls for one from the technical team; it also breaks and he tosses it aside. The event has two team members who race three laps each. Pueyo from Spain has the second fastest time on the first leg, but his team finishes in last place, 37 seconds behind the leaders. Britain and Australia are still in it after lap one, and Team GB finish in 5th place, which is their best ever result - the Australians come second last. The French bloke looses a pole too and everyone is still close together halfway through lap three when the French bloke looses another pole and gets a yellow card (I'm not sure why). Norway win gold - guess who's in their team. Yep, Klæbo. He powers up the final climb to his tenth gold medal in a phenomenal fashion, and the commentator gushes, "People will forget what you said; they will forget what you did; but they will never forget how you made them feel, and I have just got goosebumps."
King Klæbo goes on to take his sixth gold medal at this Olympic Games in the Men's 50km Mass Start Classic (in which all the podium spots are filled by Norway). This makes him the first man ever to achieve this record, and it is also the most career gold medals (11 in all) won by any Winter Olympic athlete. He now trails only Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps on the list of athletes with the most all-time Olympic gold medals.
The Ski Mountaineering - inevitably shortened to 'skimo' - makes its official Olympic debut here. It looks like fun and extremely hard work, involving climbing 'mountains' (in this case, a technically constructed course) on skis and by foot. The athletes climb rapid ascents using climbing skins, which they them whip off in an unweildly jumping move like some crazy frozen c-rate stripper, to release the sliding ability to get downhill fast. Their ski suits have special pouches, like marsupials, in which to stuff the skins until they are next required. There are also sections on the course where the athletes clip their skis into a backpack and run up steps.
There is no Klæbo in this event so there is a chance for someone else to win a medal. The women's sprint final is won by Marinne Fatton from Switzerland follwed by Emily Harrop from France then Ana Alonso Rodriguez from Spain, while the men's sprint final is won by Oriol Cardona Coll from Spain followed by Nikita Filippov from Russia (sorry, Neutral Athlete) then Thibault Anselmet from France. Unsurprisingly then, the mixed relay is France - gold, Switzerland - silver, and Spain - bronze. There is an Australian chap, Phillip Bellingham, who makes it through to the semi-finals and posts by far the slowest time. The Australian team of Bellingham and lara Hamilton (who came last in her heat) are also the final finishers in the mixed relay. They may look a long way off the pace, but they must be remarkably fit - these athletes are all truly world class.
