Slopestyle is a category of surfing with large jumps and rails, where competitors are judged primarily on the difficulty, creativity and style of their riding. However, athletes in Sochi have raised concerns about the safety of the slopestyle course at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, with the heights of the jumps and the speed competitors gain between jumps said to be problematic.
Finally, it was ours that was injured 22-year-old Cilka Sadar, who lost control in the air on the last jump and injured her right leg on landing. It happened on Wednesday during training, so unfortunately she did not participate in today's qualifiers. Norwegian Torstein Horgmo, one of the favorites for a medal in the men's category slopestyle, broke his collarbone and will not compete. Merika Enne, a Finnish competitor, suffered an ankle injury in a fall at the end of the course on Tuesday.
But resignation raises the most dust Shaun White, who injured his wrist during training on Tuesday, described the slopestyle course as "intimidating" and added that he would rather focus on a third medal in the snow channel.
You can roughly estimate how scary and difficult the course is in the video he recorded Alexey Sobolev with a Go-Pro camera, but the footage doesn't quite give the feeling of being in front of a 3-meter diving board at full speed.
Today's qualifications put the Swiss in the leading position Isabel Derungs with a best score of 87.50, while the men's leader was Norway's Staale Sandbech with a score of 94.50. Men's final in slopestyle surfing will take place on Saturday, February 8, and the women's final will be held a day later.
Some more great photos of the slopestyle track in Sochi
