Winter Olympics News » Aerial

Speedy Peterson lands the “Hurricane” for silver

Sherry — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:09:06 +0000

Alexsei Grishin of Belrus made it look very easy, spinning through the air with incredible control and precision on the landing. There is no question he deserved the gold for his performance.

There was a feeling of deja vu when you saw Jaret “Speedy” Peterson at the top of the hill preparing for his final run in men’s aerials. 4 years ago he was in position for the bronze when he attempted his signature jump the hurricane. But that time, he blew the landing and didn’t get on the podium. The tried the hurricane during practice today, falling at the landing. It would have been easy to take the advice of others and not attempt the difficult jump. But this year, he needed the difficulty to get the points needed to finish high. He made the jump, triumphantly sticking the landing.

Liu Zonyang won bronze. The 18-yr-old from China had very compact form during his jump, but wheelied a little on the landing. He’s so young, I’m sure we’ll see him in 4 years.

Women’s speedskating and aerials results

Jill Manty — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:50:04 +0000

The women skated the 5000m tonight. The Czech Republic’s Martina Sablikova took her second gold, followed by Germany’s Stephanie Beckert and Canada’s 37 year old Clara Hughes (who carried the Canadian flag at the Opening Ceremonies).

Women’s aerials also awarded medals tonight. The Chinese are coming on strong as aerialists, coming in second and third. But the gold was reserved for Australia’s Lydia Lassila.

Will There Be Snow for Vancouver?

Sherry — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:00:10 +0000

As Americans watch the Northeast get buried under record snowfall, Canadians must be wondering, “Why not Vancouver?” With the Olympic games just days away and athletes already arriving for practice sessions, officials are scrambling to make Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain suitable for use. Whistler’s slopes have plenty of snow and will pose no problem, but Cypress Mountain has had above freezing temperatures and little snow over the past few weeks. They’re not too worried about the alpine events, they’re being held at a higher elevation where there’s always more snow. The big problem is with the aerial and mogul fields.

So what are they doing?

In addition to standard snow-making machines, two methods really stand out. First, they are burying corrugated pipes beneath what snow they have. The pipes are filled with dry ice, freezing the snow from the inside out. This gets rid of extra moisture, making the nice powdery snow that everyone preferrs.

Next, officials plan to have over 5,000 cubic meters of snow flown in from the B.C. interior via helicopter. The snow is being dumped on the fields Feb. 8^th, just in time for practice and the first events on the 13^th.

Who would have thought Washington, D.C. would have more snow than Vancouver in February?