Rewind: Beijing 2022
0
By Scott MacLean
The Winter Olympics are over, and with it our most successful edition of it having doubled our all-time tally to six and grabbing those first-ever Winter Gold medals courtesy of our snow superstars Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous. While we can’t claim our usual Summer Games per-capita standing – Norway has that locked up in perpetuity in the Winter version – we did finish ahead of both Australia (1G, 2S, 1B) and Great Britain (1G, 1S – both in curling) on the medal table in 17th.
It wouldn’t be the Olympics without controversy; be it the hosts human rights record, the lack of real snow at some venues or the dystopian backdrops at others, the Roided Olympic Cheats Russians putting new twists on some of their age-old tricks or judging and equipment controversies.
But this is about our team of fifteen, so how did they get on?
Board: The standout here is obviously Sadowski-Synnott with that Gold in the Slopestyle and Silver in the Big Air. For all of us who watched it live, the sound of her board thumping into the snow in that heart-stopping moment as she landed the final jump of the last of her three Slopestyle runs will be something that will be difficult to forget, nor the sheer jubilation of when her winning score came up. She looked set to do the double in the Big Air but was pipped by a superb run from defending champion Austrian Anna Gasser, while back home her dad Sean reminded everyone that excitement and live broadcasts don’t always mix!
After being invalided out of PyeongChang with a shoulder injury Tiarn Collins made it to the start line this time, but failed to land the big runs he needed in both Slopestyle and Big Air to make the finals, finishing 18th and 23rd respectively and below his ranking coming in. The injury bug this time got Cool Wakushima though, who injured her tailbone in a practice crash and then aggravated it in her first run in Slopestyle qualifying. That proved to be her only involvement as she opted out of her second go, and then was unable to front for Big Air contest.
Ski: The Freestyle contingent made up 60% of the team, led by Porteous and his brother Miguel in the halfpipe. Qualifying second, Nico threw down the gauntlet in his first run, landing a pair of his signature 1620’s to take the lead from two-time defending champion American David Wise. That would prove enough in the difficult windy conditions as contender after contender either fell or couldn’t match Porteous’ combination, though it wasn’t sealed until American top-qualifier Aaron Blunck went down on the very last run.
Miguel put down good qualifying run to make it through in ninth, but perhaps suffered in the final from the judges by being the first to actually complete a run. Unable to land another in the conditions, he finished 11th.
It was double pain for Ben Harrington though, who after a solid first qualifying run had a horror crash on his second as he sought to get back into the final 12 and finished one place outside in 13th, while 16-year-old Gustav Legnavsky – the youngest member of this year’s team – was 19th.
In the women’s competition Chloe McMillan and Anja Barhaus both had tidy first runs but also had a shared problem; a lack of power and height on their tricks which restricted what they could do and could be scored on. Both missed the final, finishing 18th and 19th respectively which was broadly in line with their rankings in the 20-person field.
In the Men’s Big Air both Finn Bilous and Ben Barclay performed better than their rankings going into the event but despite solid runs neither made it to the final. Barclay’s score was just eight points off and was 16th, while Bilous was 18th with a few observers feeling that his second run, which became his non-scoring one, was badly underscored by the judges. In Slopestyle Bilous was again perhaps underscored on his first effort and having to go big on his second failed to land it and missed the final in 15th, but Barclay delivered the surprise performance of the whole squad to make the final as the 7th qualifier. He struggled there, failing to land his trick on the second of the three jump features in each of his first two runs but brought home a solid sequence in his third to finish in 10th, still a solid performance for someone who was 24th at last year’s World Champs.
In the Women’s competitions Margaux Hackett dipped out of the Big Air in qualifying by crashing on her first two runs though she landed her third while it was the reverse in the Slopestyle landed her first but crashed on the last feature of a promising second, but her 16th-place finish was higher than her ranking going in.
Over in the more traditional Alpine racing, our sole representative Alice Robinson endured a trying campaign. She struggled with both the conditions and her equipment in her preferred Giant Slalom finishing a disappointing 22nd, and then crashed out of the Super-G just when it looked like she might be on for a highly credible result. She also ran the Downhill – just the third in her pro career – ostensibly for a bit of fun and recorded a 25th place finish.
Shoot: As one of, if not, the youngest in the Biathlon field this was all about experience for Campbell Wright. He hoped to compete in all four individual events but had to settle for just two. A 32nd in the 20km individual was a solid start, but he faltered in the 10km sprint coming home 75th (of 94) which meant he missed the 60 places in the Pursuit and then the 30 places in the Mass Start races.
Slide: The oldest in the team by nearly 10 years, it was going to be a big ask for long-track speedskater Peter Michael to replicate his efforts of four years ago where he finished 4th in the 5000m, and that proved to be the case. Lining up in the 1500m and 10,000m this time, he was 26th (of 29) in the 1500 and last of 12 – 30 seconds down on the racer ahead of him and over a minute on the world-record setting winner – in the longer contest. He was also the last Kiwi in action, finishing ninth in his heat of the 6000m mass start and missing the final by a solitary place.
So where from here? With the probable exception of Michael, the rest are contenders to make the team for Italy in four years. Sadowski-Synnott and Porteous are at the very forefront of their sport and highly likely to have inspired even more kids to try their hand, where the chance of success is seemingly much higher than in the more traditional pursuits of Robinson and Wright. If they want it, the two champions could continue to progress their craft and their sport to new heights but there’s caution to be had at every turn, none more so than burnout. And for that they only need to look at snowboarder Carlos Garcia Knight, who four years ago was top qualifier in the Big Air and fifth in the Slopestyle but gave it all up just two years later at just 22. As for Robinson and Wright they will both have learned plenty and will be older and stronger in four years’ time, and maybe we’ll make a return to the sliding sports like luge, skeleton, and bobsleigh; if Jamaica can, surely we could? Funding and support will also be an important factor going forward too.
I can’t wait for Milano-Cortina 2026.
Follow Scott on Twitter