Redemption as Choi wins gold
More agony for Christie
GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb 17, (RTRS): South Korea’s Choi Minjeong powered her way to a gold medal in the Olympic women’s short-track speedskating 1,500 meters on Saturday, atoning for a heartbreaking disqualification in the 500m final.
Choi, the world record holder in the event, broke away from the pack with four laps to go, crossing ahead of China’s Li Jinyu and Canada’s Kim Boutin who collected her second bronze to go along with the one she took in the 500m.
With two finals and the prospect of Korean skaters winning both golds, the excitement inside a sold-out Gangneung Ice Arena was electric. The tension increased with each heat and the crowd, which included South Korean President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jungsook, exploded in cheers when Choi crossed the line first.
The final served as redemption for Choi who was denied a medal in the 500m on Tuesday when she was disqualified for interference after a photo finish with gold medal winner Arianna Fontana of Italy.
“I don’t think I would have achieved the result but for the support from so many people and friends, and the trust they’ve shown me,” Choi told reporters.
Li
“Of course I have the weight of the public’s expectations on my shoulder but I’ve always thought that it’s something that I have to overcome.
There was more hard luck for Britain’s Elise Christie who once again saw her bid for a medal come to a crashing end.
Christie, the world champion over the distance, tangled with another skater entering the final turn sending her slamming into the boards.
She lay on the ice for several moments before being taken off on a stretcher to polite applause.
The British Olympic Association said in a statement that Christie had undergone x-rays and has sustained no major injury.
“Following the race Elise Christie was taken to hospital accompanied by the team doctor, team physio and team leader,” said the BOA. “She has had an X-ray on her right ankle which has shown that there are no broken bones.”
One of the world’s top skaters, Christie has known nothing but Olympic frustration, sliding off track in the 500m final on Tuesday after crashing out or being disqualified in three events at the Sochi Winter Games.
Boutin, who was the target of death threats on social media when she was awarded the 500m after Choi was disqualified, showed her grit and courage ignoring the ugly comments and grabbing another medal that was greeted more positively by the Korean crowd.
“My dad was there today and my mom was there, too,” smiled Boutin. “For me, it’s nice to have them close. It took me a lot of courage to get on to the podium so I’m pretty happy.”
South Korea’s Choi Minjeong competes in the women’s 1,500m short track speedskating heat event during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games,
at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung on Feb 17. (AFP) Switzerland’s Sarah Hoefflin competes in the women’s ski slopestyle final run 2 during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Phoenix
Park in Pyeongchang on Feb 17. (Inset): Hoefflin poses on the podium during the medal ceremony. (AP)
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb 17, (RTRS): Sarah Hoefflin claimed the Olympic gold medal in women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle in a Swiss one-two at Pyeongchang’s Phoenix Park on Saturday.
Compatriot Mathilde Gremaud won silver, while Britain’s Isabel Atkin took the bronze in a final that had confounded many pre-competition predictions.
Sochi gold medallist Dara Howell was eliminated in qualifying, while none of the top-10 of the World Cup standings got on the podium.
In glorious sunshine at Phoenix Snow Park, fans were treated to an entertaining final and it was Swiss pair Gremaud and Hoefflin who made the early running to lay down the two highest scores of the first round.
Norway duo of Johanne Killi and Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen both fell on the rails in first run. Sweden’s Emma Dahlstom, who qualified in first place with a 91.40 — the highest score of the day — also fell on the first kicker.
Further falls for Sjaastad Christiansen and Dahlstrom and a disappointing run for Killi in the second round meant the top three in the world were all struggling going into the final runs.
Hoefflin, currently 12 in the FIS World Cup, then raised the bar further as she improved her score to 91.20, taking the lead off her compatriot.
Gremaud, who admitted afterwards she had been suffering from a head injury in the buildup to qualification, went for the switch double 1080 on the final kicker of her last run to take back the gold, but fell going for glory.
Britain’s Atkins produced a clean third run to score 84.60 and move into third place. She then faced a
Gremaud
nervous wait as the final three athletes took their final runs.
After neither of the highly-touted Norwegians could break into the top three with their final attempts, it was down to world championship silver medallist Dahlstrom in the final run of the afternoon.
However, the Swede couldn’t deliver and Switzerland got their first freestyle skiing gold since Evelyne Leu won the aerials in 2006.
“I think there were a lot of girls who could have won,” Hoefflin told reporters afterwards.
“But one thing that is so great about women’s free skiing is it really is anyone’s to win.”
“But I was really lucky in the finals because I didn’t have any wind in my runs, compared to some of the others. That helped me a lot.”
Atkin, who is also a FIS World Championship bronze medallist, celebrated with friends and family after sealing the bronze medal. In doing so, Atkin won Britain’s first Winter Olympic medal on skis.
“I wasn’t aware that was the case until someone told me earlier in an interview,” said the 19-year-old.
“I was just stoked I got to ski with my teammate Katie (Summerhayes) today.”
“I wasn’t too concerned about the result (coming in the final) but I am so pleased to come away with the bronze.”
It was a disappointing afternoon for many of the world’s top skiers.
Fifteen-year-old Jennie-Lee Burmansson, first in the world cup rankings, was aiming to become Sweden’s youngest ever winter Olympic medallist but could only manage an eighth place finish.
Birthday girl and Sochi silver medallist Devin Logan couldn’t repeat her feat from four years ago and finished in 10th.