PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Jamie Anderson is golden again.
Four years after she won gold in snowboard slopestyle’s debut in the Games, Anderson claimed another here in Pyeongchang.
Long the queen of slopestyle with 14-time X Games medals with five gold, the Tahoe native continued to add to her legacy.
But just as much of a story as Anderson’s winning score of 83.00 on her first run was the decision to hold the event at all in windy and borderline dangerous conditions at Phoenix Snow Park on Monday that turned snowboarding into something that looked more like NASCAR.
Only five of the 25 riders actually completed their first runs, with a number of wipeouts and three bailing on jumps. And it didn’t get much better on the second run, as 17 of the 25 riders failed to put down a clean run.
American Jessika Jenson, who was third after the first run with a score of 72.26, got knocked off the podium by Canada’s Laurie Blouin (silver) and Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi (bronze). Though the U.S. came into this event with hopes of winning multiple medals, Hailey Langland ended up sixth while Julia Marino failed to put down a clean run.
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But perhaps the U.S. team and International Ski Federation should be happy to get out of Monday without any significant injuries, as winds approaching 20 mph tossed riders into the air like balsa wood gliders. Twice during the second run, the riders had to hold up for a few minutes to let the wind die down.
The event was already delayed a day and cut down from its typical format, which is a two-run qualifier that narrows the field to 12 for a three-run final. Even at 10 a.m. Monday, it was too windy to compete, causing another 1 hour, 15 minute delay. But instead of postponing it further, the International Ski Federation went ahead with its full field, two-run final on Monday morning.
“The decision was made according to a contingency plan put in place during the team captains meeting on Saturday (Feb. 10), as agreed upon by the jury and the team representatives,” the FIS said in a statement on Sunday.
But the urgency to get the event completed might have overtaken common sense, as it was clear the riders were struggling with similar blustery conditions that caused the women’s Alpine giant slalom to be postponed on Monday.
There’s no doubt the decision to hold the event will come under fire as one contender after another struggled to post a score.
Canada’s Spencer O’Brien got up limping after falling on her first jump, Rukajarvi made it cleanly to the third jump before crashing out on her first run. And Austria’s Anna Gasser, considered a potential gold medalist, didn’t go conservative, attempting a double under flip off the first jump but couldn’t land it cleanly.
Though the contenders did a better job the second time around, most of them went with a more conservative gameplan, robbing the event of its typical thrills.
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