Snowboarders Criticize Decision to Hold Slopestyle Final Despite Dangerous Wind Conditions
The women's slopestyle competition at the 2018 PyeongChang Games took place as planned on Monday despite dangerous winds—to the displeasure of several competitors.
American Jamie Anderson won the gold medal in slopestyle for the second consecutive Olympics. But Monday's event was marred by blustery conditions on the course.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reported several competitors were "livid" that the slopestyle contest was held despite the wind.
"It's a s---show," Cheryl Maas of the Netherlands said, according to Passan.
“So terrible. They shouldn’t have run it,” Czech Republic’s Sarka Panocochova said, according to the Denver Post. “I mean we worked so hard to get here. This is the Olympics. Come on guys. You have more days to have this contest.”
Nearly every woman in the field crashed during their runs.
Multiple riders elected to skip the second jump during their runs, likely to avoid risking a fall because of the wind. Several competitors wiped out on the second jump.
Organizers canceled Sunday's qualifying round because of weather conditions. They also postponed Monday's giant slalom event because of the wind.
Australia's Tess Coady crashed during a training run, hurting her ACL and forcing her to end her Olympics prematurely.
Anderson finished in first with 83.00 points. Canadian Laurie Blouin earned silver with 76.33 points, while Finland's Enni Rukajarvi won bronze with 75.38 points.
