Cassie Sharpe cruises to gold in freeski halfpipe

WOMEN ’S HALFPIPE

Canada’s Cassie Sharpe cruised to a gold medal in the ladies’ halfpipe competition on Tuesday morning, taking the lead after the first finals run and not giving it up.

It was Canada’s seventh gold in Pyeongchang and 18th medal overall.

Sharpe, 25, from Comox, B.C., was the class of the field over two days, repeatedly earning the highest scores of the 24 skiers who entered.

Roz Groene would, 28, of Calgary, competing with arm that was fractured just nine weeks ago, finished 10th.

After she finished first in qualifying in the ladies’ halfpipe on Monday, with the two best scores of the day for good measure, Sharpe said fear isn’t something that she deals with, despite going up and down the walls of a 22-foot snow feature.

“I’m not really ever that scared, I just get nervous,” she said.

With that first place in qualifying allowing her the last spot in the finals, there was plenty of opportunity for nerves. She knew exactly what scores she needed to beat every time she started her three finals runs. It was all there in front of her.

But Sharpe said on Monday that this was the exact scenario she wanted.

“I want to drop last in the final,” she said. Not only would she know what she needed to do, there would be the potential for a final-run victory lap: “If I can get another one of those,” she said, “that’s the best feeling in the world.”

The halfpipe event had attracted mild controversy after qualifying when it became apparent that several of the skiers in the 24- woman field were not exactly at a worldclass level. One of them, Liz Swaney, a 33-yearold Californian competing for Hungary, skied up and down the walls of the pipe like it was her first time in one, and then declared herself disappointed that she didn’t make the finals.

Sharpe, though, said anyone who met the qualifying standard had the right to compete. She said the overall level of performance had been excellent.