FREESTYLE SKIING SCHEDULE Y
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FREESTYLE SKIING SCHEDULE » » » » y Day 2 Day 9 Day 11 Day 13 a Saturday, Feb. 13 Saturday, Feb. 20 Monday, Feb. 22 Wednesday, Feb. 24 w h Black Mountain at Cypress Women’s moguls Women’s aerials Men’s aerials Women’s aerials i g H The first venue to be Games-ready, 4:30-5:30 p.m. 10-11:35 a.m. 6-7:35 p.m. *7:15-8:35 p.m. y k construction of the freestyle moguls S *7:30-8:30 p.m. o was completed in the fall of 2007, t a e with all other parts,including the S snowboard halfpipe,finished in 2008. » Day 3 » Day 10 » Day 12 » Day 14 Sunday, Feb. 14 Sunday, Feb. 21 Tuesday, Feb. 23 Thursday, Feb. 25 Men’s moguls Men’s ski cross Women’s ski cross Men’s aerials 2:30-3:30 p.m. 9:15-10:15 a.m. 10-11:30 a.m. *6-7:05 p.m. *5:30-6:30 p.m. *12:15-1:30 p.m. *1-2:15 p.m. *Indicates medal event Canada Hockey Place: DECONSTRUCTING THE GAMES FREESTYLE SKIING: All the right moves 1 From the bumps and jumps of moguls, to the high-flying aerialists and the roller derby on snow that is ski cross, the newest of Olympic sports offers plenty of thrills. Canwest News Service writer Vicki Hall explains: THE ART OF FLYING Canadian aerialist Warren Shouldice talks us through one of his sport’s most challenging moves,which he debuted at a World Cup in 2005: the lay triple full full jump. 1.IN RUN 2.TRANSITION 3.TAKEOFF 4.START TWIST 5.FINISHING 6.COMPLETE 7.COMPLETE 8.THIRD 9.SPOT 10 .FINISH Staying low,so I’m Standing up from My legs are fully Beginning of arm MOTIONS FIRST TWIST SECOND TWIST TWIST LANDING CORRAL motions that create not affected by the the “in run”posi- extended with Left and right arms Left arm is now Entire body is All three twists are Eyes find the Arms up,eyes looking twist,my right arm wind, I need to be tion,eyes on the arms up as I leave now switch with bent behind my clenched,fighting now complete, landing hill,judge down the hill with legs moves upwards within one km/h of top of the jump, the jump. the left arm up and head with right to keep feet I break out from height,and make perpendicular to the with the left arm my desired speed I begin to raise my right arm down. arm bent and together as compact “wrap”po- necessary adjust- landing,the force of im- moving down. in order to do a arms above my across my chest in centrifugal force sition in order to ments in prepara- pact from 50 feet up is good jump. head for takeoff. a compact “wrap” tears them apart. slow down the rate tion for landing. immense.Don’t forget position. of rotation. to celebrate! THE ATHLETES THE COURSES MEDAL FAVOURITES For moguls,core strength is key Aerials Moguls Ski cross From far and wide,with more than a splash of Canadiana The course is designed Held on a straight,steep The ski-cross course Common to have a takeoff slope slope covered with measures 1,135 metres, MOGULS:West Vancouver native Dale wisdom In fact, the lower descending to a kicker, moguls that skiers must with a vertical drop Begg-Smith is the defending Olympic suggests back takes most from which the skier negotiate as quickly of 208 metres. champ and king of the bumps and jumps. navigating of the impact. launches. as possible. Unfortunately,he represents Australia.His a mogul As such, mogul top rival is Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau, field must winner of four straight World Cup events skiers are con- Jumps be hard on stantly working last year.On the women’s side,Japan’s Aiko the knees. to strengthen Takeoff slope Moguls are Uemura will be challenged by defending their core mus- spaced about Olympic champ Jenn Heil of Alberta. cles to lessen the 3.5 m apart risk of suffering Kicker degenerative back problems later in life. Landing slope Aerial skiers tend to be shorter in stature than the general population. Almost all jumps are done in a laid- Bilodeau out position as opposed to tricks in diving or trampoline Stopping area Begg-Smith Uemura where most athletes get into a tuck position to accelerate the spin. In aerials, taller athletes generally spin slower AERIALS:American Ryan St.Onge is the and find it more difficult to initiate rotation than their N reigning world champion,but North Bay’s more diminutive counterparts. N Snowboard Steve Omischl is favoured,with 10 World Ski-cross racers actually rely most on the matter Moguls and ski cross Cup victories since a disappointing 20th- between their ears. The best ski-cross racers have superior stadium place finish at the 2006 Games.Don’t count vision, like Wayne Gretzky in hockey. They have to be out Calgary’s Warren Shouldice,third at the acutely aware of everything going on around them — 2009 worlds.China rules the women’s side, including the positioning of other competitors. Jumps led by three-time world champion Nina Li. Freestyle stadium Cypress SMART FACTS Bowl Rd. 1. THE AERIALISTS Freestyle These athletes execute the most difficult manoeuvres skiing in any sport, with up to five twists and three flips. They MOGULS Omischl Shouldice Li hit speeds of up to 65 km/h and fly up to 20 metres Freestyle in the air — the equivalent of a six-storey building. skiing AERIALS 2. THE MOGUL SKIERS SKI CROSS:Canadian Chris Del Bosco,No. 2 in the 2009 World Cup standings,will be They cover a 230-metre course in about 25 seconds, challenged by top-rankedTomas Kraus of hitting four moguls per second on a 28-degree incline. General admission standing the Czech Republic.Ashleigh McIvor and During the run, they also perform tricks, such as Kelsey Serwa lead the home charge on the backflips, off two jumps. women’s side.Their chief threat is 2009 3. A BIT OF HISTORY Grandstand seating Spectator plaza World Cup leader Ophelie David of France. It was a demonstration sport at the 1988 Olympics, with competitions in aerials, moguls and ski ballet. 4. OLYMPIC STATUS Moguls became an official Olympic sport at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. Aerials received official Olympic status two years later in Lillehammer, FOR MORE ON THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES GO TO VANCOUVERSUN.COM/2010 while ski cross — think roller derby on skis — 2010will make its Olympic debut at Cypress in February. GRAPHICS:BY ROGER WATANABE AND MAGGIE WONG/VANCOUVER SUN Del Bosco Kraus David.