Winter Olympics News » Super Combine

Bode Miller Wins Gold!!!

Jill Manty — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:26:24 +0000

I’m so happy for Bode. I’m also sick of hearing what a disappointment he was in Torino and how he must have been sitting around hanging his head in shame for the past four years. But now commentators can just shut up and leave him alone. He skied a good downhill and a great slalom portion. And now he will get to stand on top of the podium and hear his national anthem.

The Silver medal went to Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, the bronze to Switzerland’s Silvan Zurbriggen.

What are you watching today?

Jill Manty — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:51:34 +0000

There are six medals being awarded today. Which contests will you be watching?

In alpine skiing, you can watch Men’s Super Combined, which combines one downhill run with one slalom run. American Ted Ligety is the defending Olympic champion, but look for Americans Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht to give him a run for his money.

Biathlon will award medals for a men’s and women’s mass start event today.

Two man bobsled wraps up today. Team U.S. 1 was in a good position going into today’s runs.

Men’s ski cross runs qualifying and final rounds today. If you like snowboard cross, you’re going to love this new event. Former Alpine skiers Casey Puckett and Daron Rahlves lead the Americans. You may recognize both these names as Rahlves represented the United States at the Olympics three times in alpine racing, and Puckett was a four time Olympian in the alpine disciplines.

The women’s speedskating 1500m will be raced today, as well.

In addition to medal rounds, you can check out curling and hockey (yes, I know some of you have had enough of curling and hockey). Or if you want something a bit lighter, ice dancers will be performing their free dance today.

Another alpine medal for the American women

Jill Manty — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:39:26 +0000

No, not Lyndsey Vonn. Today it was teammate Julia Mancuso. She became the first American woman to win three alpine medals. She would be my daughter’s favorite skier, since she’s always wearing a pretty tiara. Who doesn’t love a princess tiara?

Today’s events 2/18

Jill Manty — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:41:59 +0000

This is going to be a very brief rundown of today’s events:

Women’s Super Combined— potentially more medals for Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn.

Biathlon— Could there be a medal for American Tim Burke? Will Norway be happier with their results today?

Men’s Figure Skating—Who’s getting the gold? Evan Lysacek, Evgeni Plushenko, or someone else entirely?

Snowboarding— More halfpipe today. It’s the women’s turn. Will the American women exceed the American men’s medal count from last night?

Hockey— The men and the women compete today. The men take on Norway. The women take on Finland.

Speed skating— The women take on the 1000m. Don’t expect the same medal count for the American women as the American men.

Skeleton— Competition starts today for the men and women. Americans stand a much better chance at medaling here than in the luge.

Curling— both the men and women take on Denmark today. You can catch this live if you have CNBC. No, really, live coverage of an event.

That’s it. Check back throughout the afternoon and evening for coverage of events.

What are all these Alpine Skiing events?

Jill Manty — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:32:04 +0000

Alpine skiing has so many variations: downhill, Super-G, Giant Slalom, Slalom and Super Combined. If you’re not a skier, this can be confusing.

Downhill is the longest, fastest race. There is a path that skiers need to stay on, but it doesn’t require the precision of slalom. Speeds reach about 90 mph.

Slalom is a relatively short race. It features sharp turns around flags, requiring speed and agility. This is a two-run race. Many skiers get disqualified by missing gates.

Giant slalom is a longer version of slalom. The turns are not quite as tight. This is also a two-run race.

Super G (short for super giant slalom) is a longer, faster version of Giant slalom. It’s a relatively new Olympic event, debuting in 1988. There are no training runs on Super G.

Re-introduced in 1988, Super Combined combines one downhill race with one slalom run. The fastest combined time wins.