Rochon soars to first World Cup aerials gold
A year ago at this time, Olivier Rochon made his living through menial construction work in Quebec City.
He scooped up the garbage on demolition jobs. Helped with tiling. Put up siding.
“Nothing too complicated, because I don’t have my card,” said the 22-year-old aerials skier. “Just a helper running around picking up stuff doing any crappy jobs for the other guys.
“It was a fun job. I loved it. But jumping is way better.”
Having served a year suspension for undisclosed disciplinary issues, Rochon is back jumping in a big way.
In gusty winds, the native of Gatineau, Que., landed the biggest jump of the competition Sunday to win the first World Cup gold of his career at Canada Olympic Park.
Known better as Ollywood, Rochon hit the takeoff ramp in dramatic fashion on the second stop of the Canada Post Grand Prix.
“He was way, way faster than he wanted to be,” injured world champion Warren Shouldice said of his Canadian teammate “My initial thought when I saw him go off the jump was of a guy who had just ended his career.
“I really thought it was going to end with a trip in the ambulance.”
Some 20 metres in the air, Rochon realized his mistake and adjusted in the middle of a quadruple twisting triple backflip.
“Stretch,” screeched coach Daniel Murphy. “Stretch!”
Normally, Rochon tries to block out any and all noise during his jump. But these weren’t normal circumstances.
“In my jump, I got scared, because I went big,” he said. “I had to stretch out a lot.”
By stretching, the five-foot-five former gymnast slowed himself down just enough to stick the landing for a score of 125.67.
Qui Guangpu of China seized silver with a score of 124.34. His teammate Liu Zhongqing captured bronze at 119.03.
On the women’s side, China finished 1-2 with Xu Mengtao taking gold with a score of 98.52 and Cheng Shaung silver at 92.35. Olga Volkova of Ukraine seized bronze with a score of 85.05.
Gagnon nails her best ski result
st. moritz, switzerland / Canada’s Marie-michele Gagnon posted her best result of the World Cup season Sunday, finishing seventh in the super combined in St. Moritz, Switzerland.
The 22-year-old from Lac-etchemin, Que., was the first racer down the slalom course and she rose 23 spots with the second- fastest slalom run — 47.64 seconds — to give her a two-run combined time of two minutes 9.77 seconds.
Germany’s Maria Hoefl-riesch secured her first win of the season with a time of 2:08.41, denying American Lindsey Vonn a sweep of the three St. Moritz races as well as her 50th World Cup victory. Vonn clocked in at 2:08.44, while Austria’s Nicole Hosp, who posted the fastest run of the day, finished third (2:08.92).
Meanwhile, the men’s super-g in Garmisch-partenkirchen, Germany, was cancelled due to heavy fog. No make up date has been announced.
China’s Yu shatters 500m record
calgary / China’s Yu Jing broke the world record in 500 metres Sunday and finished second in the 1,000 to win the world sprint speed skating championship.
Yu won the 500 in 36.94 seconds. Canada’s Christine Nesbitt was second in the overall four-race competition, 0.02 points back. She swept the 1,000 races Saturday and Sunday, setting a world record Saturday.
The Netherlands’ Stefan Groothuis won the men’s sprint championship. He won the 1,000.
South Korea’s Lee Kyou-hyuk was second, 0.19 points back, and teammate Mo Taebum was third.