White wins men’s halfpipe qualifier
Shaun White has won halfpipe qualifying at the Pyeongchang Olympic Games and will drop in last for what’s shaping up as an epic final.
The two-time gold medalist scored a 98.5 to edge Australia’s Scotty James for the prime spot in Wednesday’s three-run final.
Sochi silver medalist Ayumu Hirano of Japan finished third.
Hirano won the Winter X Games last month with backto-back 1440-degree double corks, a combination that had not been successfully landed in competition. White has said he’s working on the same tricks. James has the most technically on-point package in the game.
Also in the 12-man final will be Americans Ben Ferguson, Jake Pates and Chase Josey. German leads combined: Making good use of the No. 1 starting bib before the wind whipped up, Thomas Dressen had the fastest downhill run in the men’s Olympic combined.
The German skier was 0.07 of a second faster than Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway in the opening race of the Alpine program at the Pyeongchang Games. Matthias Mayer of Austria, the 2014 Olympic champion in downhill, was 0.13 behind in third on a course shortened for safety reasons.
The world’s best slalom skier, Marcel Hirscher, was in good shape in 12th place with only 1.32 seconds to make up in the Austrian’s specialized discipline later in the afternoon. The gold medalist will be the skier with the fastest combined time.
Swirling wind was again a factor despite blue skies and sunshine in Jeongseon, where the men’s downhill race was postponed Sunday. The racetime temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit.
Gusts higher up the mountain forced organizers to lower the start, cutting about 20 seconds of skiing from the downhill portion of the combined. Racers topped 75 mph but were guided to a safer line cresting the jumps.
One medal contender, Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, was unhappy after being the fourth fastest, 0.27 behind Dressen.
“I wish I would’ve gone in fair conditions,” said Jansrud, who wore the No. 19 bib. “In downhill, it’s about the aerodynamics. The wind is coming and going, sometimes tailwind and then it’s headwind.” Russians medal in curling: A team of Russian athletes has won the bronze medal in mixed-doubles curling after beating Norway 8-4 and recovering from a rare tumble on the ice.
The Russians’ win Tuesday gives them the distinction of nabbing the first-ever Olympic medal in mixed-doubles curling. The event is making its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang.
The most dramatic moment of the match came in the third end, or round. Russia’s Anastasia Bryzgalova was strategizing with her teammate Aleksandr Krushelnitckii when she suddenly seemed to lose her footing. She recovered but seconds later, her foot went flying out from under her. She promptly landed on her backside.
It is rare for a curler to fall in professional curling.
Canada faced Switzerland later Tuesday in the mixeddoubles gold-medal match.