Sharpe cruises to gold
‘I’m not really ever that scared’
Canada’s Cassie Sharpe cruised to a gold medal in the women’s 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 Groenewould, 28, of Calgary, competing with arm that was fractured just nine weeks ago, finished 10th.
After she finished first in qualifying in the 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.”