20-year old Czech woman wins snowboard-cross as Mors clinches 1500m speedskating
Eva Samkova slapped a camera atop her helmet before the women's Olympic snowboardcross finals on Sunday, hoping to give TV viewers a better grasp of hersport's unique mix of speed and chaos.
Samkova provided the speed. It's the chaos that was missing — at least in front of her.
Riding a board that appeared propelled by booster rockets, the 20-year-old from the Czech Republic sprinted to Olympic gold with three wire-to-wire victories. They probably looked pretty boring from her helmet camera's point of view, what with nothing in front of her but a softening course and a raucous crowd that roared in appreciation of her dominance.
Her body rock steady in an event that again claimed perennial gold medal contender lindsey Jacobellis among its victims, Samkova credited the wax techs that turned her board into a 5-foot-long lightning bolt and a form that didn't falter as the madness piled up behind her.
"It's just physics, that's all," Samkova said with a laugh. And Groundhog Day for Jacobellis. The eight-time X Games winner gave away gold in Turin eight years ago when a botched grab near the end of the finals cost her the top spot on the podium. The greatest racer in the sport's history failed to make it out of the semifinals in Vancouver and her quest to fill the one hole left on her peerless resume ended in Sochi's semifinals.
Well ahead of the other five riders at a slushy Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, the 28-year-old from Park City, Utah, lost her balance coming out of a jump and washed out in one of the final turns. She recovered to win the consolation final, though it served as little solace.
"There are worse things in life than not winning. A lot worse," Jacobellis said. "And, of course, it's very unfortunate this didn't work out for me. I trained very hard for this moment. It doesn't come together for who knows what reason."
Samkova's win was the first podium finish in the Olympics by a Czech snowboarder. Dominique Maltais became the first multiple-medal winner in women's snowboardcross when she finished a distant second. Chloe Trespeuch of France topped Faye Gulini of the U.S. for bronze on a day that featured both the beauty and the danger of snowboarding's version of NASCAR.
Barely 24 hours after Russian skicross racer Maria Komissarova severely injured her spine while training on the same slope, American Jackie Hernandez sustained a concussion when she smacked her head after catching an edge during qualifying. The 21-year-old was treated and released, but barred from competing in the elimination rounds.
Hernandez's accident came only minutes after Helene Olafsen of Norway hurt her knee near the top of the course and needed to be taken off the mountain on a stretcher.
Ter Mors leads another Dutch sweep Jorien ter Mors led another Dutch sweep in Olympic speedskating, beating favorite Ireen Wust in the women's 1,500 meters Sunday and setting up a shot at becoming the first skater to win medals in both long and short track.
Competing in an early pairing, Ter Mors turned in a stunning time of 1 minute, 53.51 seconds, an Olympic record and the second-fastest ever at sea level. The only skater to go quicker was Wust at the Dutch Olympic trials in December.
Wust settled for silver this time in 1:54.09, with the bronze going to lotte van Beek in 1:54.54. Ter Mors just missed a short track medal Saturday, finishing fourth in the 1,500 at the Iceberg Skating Palace next door. She has another chance in the 1,000, which begins Tuesday.
The Dutch have now won a staggering 16 speedskating medals at Adler Arena, breaking the previous record haul of 13 set by East Germany at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. And with favorites in three of the last four events, they figure to push the mark to heights that may never be seen again.
It was the fifth win in eight events and the third sweep of the medal podium for the Dutch, who have won at least one medal in every race. And if a fourth medal had been available in the 1,500, they would've won that, too. Marrit leenstra finished fourth, knocked out of the bronze in the final pairing by Van Beek.