When we swooped into the Sanki Sliding Center for the Two-Woman Bobsled heat yesterday, we might have been surprised by the sight we beheld. Was that really Lolo Jones who we just saw, pushing a Bobsled? Matter of fact, it was. That's right, Lolo Jones, the Track and Field star who competed in both Beijing and London, was back for Sochi. And she wasn't the only track athlete back in the Bobsled either. Both Aja Evans and Lauryn Williams(both Track stars) were also pushing the sleds in Sochi. Apparently the skill that Track athletes have at producing a burst of speed comes in handy when starting off a Bobsled. After the first day of runs, the Americans possessed the Gold and Bronze spots, while the 2010 Gold winners Canada held onto Silver.
Leaving Sanki, we go into a new event at these Games, the Ski Halfpipe competition. At the outset of this event, the commentators had been remarking how these new events were working out especially well for America. To illustrate that point, as of the start of competition yesterday, there had been 7 new events so far, and Americans had medaled in all 7 of them. This trend continued yesterday, as the inaugural Men's Ski Halfpipe competition got underway. The hype preceding the American delegation was focused on two skiers, David Wise and Torin Yater-Wallace. Yater-Wallace is an 18-year old skier from Aspen, and he came into the Games riding a wave of publicity, but ultimately failing to move out of Qualifying. David Wise is a 23-year old skier from Reno, with a wife and a daughter. Wise on the other hand had a much better day, eventually winning the Gold Medal.
Staying in Rosa Khutor, the Men got their shot at the Snowboard Cross competition. This is one of the most fast-paced and intriguing Olympic sports out there. The sheer unpredictability of it makes it a favorite to watch. Case in point: in both the Men's and Women's competitions, there wasn't one heat that I watched where at least one person didn't fall. In one of the Qualifying heats(3 of 6 advance), 4 people fell. Which means that one of the people who fell had a shot to get back up and still qualify. This event ended up giving the Americans a Medal, with Alex Diebold taking home the Bronze.
After all of that, it was time for the Women's Giant Slalom event. Coming off of her tie for Gold in the Downhill, Tina Maze was teeing up for another great run, which she ended up having. Also running the slopes that day was Julia Mancuso, who had accumulated her 4th Medal in 4 Games from the Super Combined. She ended up sliding off the course and ending her Olympics right then and there. But the star of all the chatter leading up to the event was 18-year old Mikaela Shiffrin. Her debut had been heralded, and even though she only placed 5th, she will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
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