Sports FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2014 SOCHI WINTER OLYMPICS Chapuis leads French sweep in ski cross ROSA KHUTOR: Jean Frederic Chapuis skied sports and countries in 2010, had shown Although Midol’s ski made contact with that tained another knee injury last Sunday and calmly through the chaos to take freestyle ski good form all day. Fourth fastest in the morn- of Leman before the fall, the Canadian had did not start. cross gold at the Sochi Games yesterday and ing seedings run, the 24-year-old led Midol earlier similarly taken out Swiss favorite Alex Fiva, the 2012/13 overall World Cup cham- lead France to their first Winter Olympics through from their round of 16 heat and the Fiva in the first round of heats. Having tangled pion, was struggling with his back and failed podium sweep. Arnaud Bovolenta took silver pair repeated the one-two in their two subse- with Leman, Midol, whose world champi- to complete the seeding run before being and Jonathan Midol won bronze after the quent races to secure berths in the final. onship silver medallist brother Bastien was taken out while leading by Leman. As usual in fourth finalist, Canada’s Brady Leman, crashed Bovolenta came through the bottom half ruled out of the Games by a serious back the rough and tumble of the most unpre- out on the penultimate jump. of the draw with Leman and made a good injury, looked unlikely to catch Bovolenta and dictable freestyle event, there were plenty of It was the second 1-2-3 in the freestyle ski- start in the final, edging ahead of Chapuis the trio settled for staying upright over the crashes and Fiva was by no means the only ing at the Extreme Park after the Americans before being hauled in by the world champi- final jump. leading skier to go out early. Medal contender swept the slopestyle event, and gave France a on. When Chapuis got in front, he never Semi-finalist Armin Niederer apart, it was a Victor Oehling Norberg’s exit was the most total of 14 medals in Sochi, their best tally at a looked like being caught and once Leman, miserable day for the strong Swiss team. spectacular, the Swede crash-landing while Winter Games. World champion Chapuis, who missed out on skiing at the Vancouver Defending champion Michael Schmid, who leading after the final jump in his quarter-final who has dual nationality and raced for Games after breaking his leg on the eve of the has had three ruptured anterior cruciate liga- and still missing out the semis by only a mat- Switzerland in Alpine skiing before switching contest, had fallen, the French sweep was on. ments since winning gold in Vancouver, sus- ter of centimeters in a photo finish.— Reuters KRASNAYA POLYANA: (From left) Norway’s Magnus Hovdal Moan, Joergen Graabak, Magnus Krog and Haavard Klemetsen dive as they celebrate win- ning the gold medal of the Nordic combined Gundersen large hill team competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics yesterday. — AP After Sochi, what’s next? Canada, USA braced for Sochi superpower clash SOCHI: The sheer cost, size and scale of the isn’t for the games themselves; it’s for roads, always give a chance to developing winter Sochi Olympics has outstripped anything railways, hotels and other long-term regen- sports nations to develop what they need to SOCHI: Defending ice hockey champions Canada and the done before. The question for future Winter eration projects. do,” Adams says. “We can’t always just go to USA meet in a rematch of the 2010 Olympic Games gold Games is clear: Can anyone - should anyone - Still, the international mood has shifted. countries where they’ve got everything medal showdown while Sweden seeks to keep its perfect try to top that? Sochi has showcased Proposed bids for the 2022 Winter Olympics already. President Vladimir Putin’s grand project, from Munich and St. Moritz-Davos were That wouldn’t help to spread the games record intact against Finland in today’s semi-finals. Canada using the Olympics to reshape the entire rejected last year by voters in Germany and and it wouldn’t be fair, either.” Next to be face an explosive American team that has scored a tourna- Black Sea resort region, with brand new facil- Switzerland because of financial and envi- decided is the site of the 2022 Games. A low- ment high 20 goals in four games. “This is what it is all about,” ities and infrastructure built from scratch. ronmental concerns. Stockholm recently key bidding campaign has been waged said Canadian forward Jonathan Toews. “Canada-USA. It’s The huge financial investment, massive secu- pulled out of the 2022 race after Swedish behind the scenes in Sochi among the five become even a bigger rivalry than Canada-Russia.” The North rity apparatus and litany of logistical issues politicians said the costs were too high. “A lot candidate cities: Almaty, Kazakhstan; Beijing; American rivals met in the 2010 Vancouver final where has thrown up major challenges to potential of cities have found this a little scary, that so Krakow, Poland; Lviv, Ukraine; and Oslo, Sidney Crosby scored the winner in overtime. The men’s future Winter Olympic host cities. Can they much money has to be invested,” senior Norway. The IOC executive board will cut the hockey tournament at Sochi is down to four teams after a sur- afford it? Will the public support it? Should Norwegian IOC member Gerhard Heiberg field to a short list of finalists in early July. prising quarter-final round that saw host Russia crash with a the games keep going to emerging and told The Associated Press. “People in western The full IOC will select the winner on July 31, 3-1 loss to the Finns. developing countries or return to more tradi- Europe say this is too much for us, too much 2015, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The USA easily beat the Czechs 5-2 in their quarter-final, tional winter sports nations? Will the weather investment, too difficult to run. We need to Beijing, which hosted the 2008 Summer Canada survived a scare before easing past Latvia 2-1 on a be cold enough? get more cities interested. It’s a question of Olympics, would seem a longshot after the late goal in the third and Sweden rolled over Slovenia 5-0 set- Under new President Thomas Bach, the cost - as little as possible.” IOC awarded two consecutive games to Asia ting the stage for some dramatic semi-finals. USA coach Dan International Olympic Committee is weigh- - Pyeongchang for 2018 and Tokyo for the Bylsma said the Americans are hungry to avenge their loss ing changes to the bidding process that Thinking about fairness 2020 Summer Games. It would seem impos- from four years ago in Vancouver. “Now we have a rematch,” would cut down on the costs for applicant The next Winter Games will be held in sible for Lviv to be able to overcome the Bylsma said. “Canada is the matchup we certainly all wanted.” and host cities. “The idea that perhaps a 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Like political crisis and unrest in Ukraine, especial- Canada is hoping to get more production from some of their more traditional country would produce a Sochi, it’s a new destination, the first Winter ly after the clashes that claimed at least 25 NHL stars like Crosby who has yet to fire on offence. smaller scale games with a different legacy, Olympics in Korea, and a city with which lives in Kiev on Tuesday. Krakow is an inter- The top two scorers for Canada are defenceman Shea it’s entirely possible,” IOC spokesman Mark many in the world are unfamiliar. Unlike esting option at the heart of Europe, but its Weber (five points) and Drew Doughty (six points) while Adams says. The fact is, potential host cities Sochi, Pyeongchang already has many exist- plans for holding some ski events across the American forward Phil Kessel leads the tournament in scoring have been spooked by the $51 billion price ing facilities in place. The infrastructure border in Slovakia pose tricky logistical with eight points in four games. —AFP tag associated with Sochi. Most of that cash budget is a modest $7 billion. “We need to issues. —AP.