Sunday, February 9, 2014

Women's Snowboarding Slopestyle Olympics 2014: Medal Winners and Final Results

USA's Jamie Anderson took gold in the Women's Snowboarding Slopestyle in the first ever event in this format.

Enni Rukajarvi was placed in silver position after two runs on the slopes, with Great Britain's Jenny Jones grabbing all of the headlines.

Jones, who has taken her first ever Olympic medal, also earned her country's first 2014 Winter Olympic medal with bronze, in event that had twists, turns and plenty of tumbles at every slope.

Ollie Williams of Frontier Sports, reporting on the Games for the BBC, capped his feelings as Jones picked up bronze, tweeting:


2014 Winter Olympics Women's Snowboarding Slopestyle
Rank Competitor (Country) Run 1 Score Run 2 Score Best Score
1 Jamie ANDERSON (USA) 80.75 95.25 95.25
2 Enni RUKAJARVI (Finland) 73.75 92.50 92.50
3 Jenny JONES (Great Britain) 73.00 87.25 87.25
4 Sina CANDRIAN (Switzerland) 7.25 87.00 87.00
5 Sarka PANCOCHOVA (Czech Republic) 86.25 20.00 86.25
6 Karly SHORR (USA) 39.00 75.00 75.00
7 Torah BRIGHT (Australia) 64.75 66.25 66.25
8 Isabel DERUNGS (Switzerland) 58.50 15.25 58.50
9 Elena KOENZ (Switzerland) 24.50 54.50 54.50
10 Anna GASSER (Austria) 49.00 51.75 51.75
11 Silje NORENDAL (Norway) 49.50 32.00 49.50
12 Spencer O'BRIEN (Canada) 30.00 35.00 35.00


The first run proved fruitful for Czech Republic's Sarka Pancochova, who sat top of the rankings after her first run score of 86.25, with USA's Jamie Anderson continuing her fine form in this year's Winter Games with a fine score of 80.75 - leapfrogging Switzerland's Sina Candrian and Finland's Enni Rukajarvi in third and fourth respectively.

Great Britain's Jenny Jones then scored 73.00 on her first run; a good score from the 33-year-old, who is still searching for her first Olympic medal.

Francis Keogh of BBC tweeted of Jones' chances to make history for her country on snow in the Winter Olympics:


Elena Koenz of Switzerland was left to languish at the bottom of the table with 24.50, after a tumble saw her lose her chance at sitting at the upper echelons of the grid after the first run, along with Canadian Spencer O'Brien and USA's Karly Shorr, who made up the bottom three.

Crowds surrounded the slopes as the final run was set to get underway; plenty of new fans to the new format at the Winter Olympics.

Norway's Silje Norendal began the final run with a score of 32, which held her position in the middle of the final ladder and out of challenging position for any medals, followed by Jenny Jones, whose run showed pace and passion as she looked to breach the top-five.

Her mammoth score of 87.25 sparked jubilant celebrations from Jones and her onlooking British fans, with tally that looked set to place her with at least a bronze medal at the end of the event, but also within an excellent chance of taking top spot.

However, it looks a short-lived victory for Candrian, looked to have grabbed her board on two occasions to seal a big score, but was awarded just 87, keeping Jones at the summit of the leaderboard with the chasing pack all yet to run.

Drama then unfolded as Pancochova barrel-rolled down the slopes, with fear amongst commentators that the catapult of snow had left her with a concussion, but thankfully, she rose to her feet to walk from the track.

CBC Olympics correspondent Kate Pettersen captured the moment of Pancochova's fall, noting the importance of wearing headgear in this event, tweeting:

This fall ended any chance of re-claiming top-spot for Sarka, who was awarded just 20 by the judges, however her first run could still see her placed with a bronze medal at Sochi, but ultimately, her health still intact, as highlighted through Buzzfeed UK's Alan White's Vine and Agence France-Presse's tweet:


Top-spot then had a new occupant, following Rukajarvi's second run, as she scored 92.50 to push Jones and Candrian back into second and third respectively, and ended Pancochova's slim hopes of leaving this event with a medal.

USA's Karly Shorr returned to the slopes with two grabs and perfectly-executed landings showing her air of confidence in the new format; however could do only score 75 to leave her 10 points short of a medal birth.

O'Brien's second run proved as fruitful as her first, scoring 35 to keep her at the foot of the table, with last-placed Koenz returning to the slopes to find 54.5.

Norway's Norendal then failed to improve on her opening score of 49.5, leaving her also to be content with a mid-table finish as four competitors remained, but still all to play for at the top of the ladder.

Then came a second run for Australia's Torah Bright, who improved on her opening score with 66.25, but ended her chances of a medal in this event.

Jamie Anderson landed a beautiful, technical run with aplomb as she looked to break into the top three, in a run that oozed experience and confidence from the offset. And with a tally of 95.25, Anderson had done enough to take the lead at the late, late stage in proceedings.

Jones still sat in third place, as Great Britain looked for their first ever Winter Olympic medal, and as Switzerland's Isabel Derungs hit 58.50, leaving her in the lower-half of the final standings.

Williams  provided a statement from Jones' teammate, Aimee Fuller, discussing the historical importance:

With one ride to go from Austria's Anna Gasser, it looked likely that Anderson would take gold, and Jones would make her own history in Sochi. These feats were then realised as Gasser slipped onto her backside during the run, sealing a momentous performance for British snowboarding.

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