Howell skis ‘perfect run’ for slopestyle gold, Logan silver

By Published On: February 11th, 2014Comments Off on Howell skis ‘perfect run’ for slopestyle gold, Logan silver
Devin Logan takes Olympic silver medal in slopestyle.

Devin Logan takes Olympic silver medal in slopestyle. (GEPA)

ROSA KHUTOR, Russia — It took perhaps the best women’s slopestyle run of all time to knock American Devin Logan into silver medal position at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park Tuesday. That was the buzz in the finish area after Canadian Dara Howell’s first-run performance, which earned her a score of 94.20 in the opening freeskiing event of the Sochi Olympic Winter Games.

Howell’s teammate Kim Lamarre rounded out the podium in the bronze medal position, making for a six total medals for the Canadian Freestyle Skiing Association thus far in these Games, which meets the team’s original goal, according to the organization’s CEO Peter Judge, with several medal events remaining.

For Howell, the big separator proved to be the cleanliness of her run and the switch misty nine off the second jump.

“I think that’s the best run I’ve ever done in my entire life,” she said.

At times, the 23-year-old looked as if she was skiing on a different course than her competitors, spinning on and off features on the top rail section before launching into a bottom jump line that included a switch 720, the aforementioned 900 and a huge rodeo 540 with a “bow and arrow” grab on the final jump.

Course conditions were spring-like, which created concerns for some skiers as softer landings left holes in the snow.

“I think it was the variability (that was problematic for some),” said Judge “because when they were training it was that beautiful kind of ego snow, soft and comfortable … and then you show up the next morning and it’s rock hard and it’s really fast. Then, as you go through the day, they’re expecting it to be fast, and it’s slowing, slowing, slowing. … Making that psychological change is sometimes a very tough shift to make.”

Possibly as a result of the slowing snow conditions, there was a scary crash for Canadian Tuki Tsubota, who didn’t have enough distance and knuckled out on the final hit. She is suspected to have sustained an injury to her jaw, but finished sixth nonetheless and is said to be doing “OK.”

The ladies on the podium had no complaints about the snow.

“Everybody loves spring skiing and the course just worked for me today,” Howell said. “I just want to keep pushing it and keep pushing the sport, and I think every girl out there wants to do the same thing.”

For Logan, who turns 21 next week, there were smiles, hugs and tears of joy. She skied to a distant 85.40 point score, but it was enough for the second best performance of the day, which like Howell’s, came in her first run through the course. Logan wasn’t quite able to stomp her second run, but celebrated her crash off the third and final hit of the Olympics with a “penguin slide” into the finish area, not something that necessarily helped her with the judges but certainly earned cheers from the crowd.

“I was definitely feeling it — had a good practice yesterday and just went out and had fun and glad I landed some runs,” said Logan, who did not compete last season due to injury. “I landed what I wanted to land.”

Asked if she was disappointed that she was unable to stomp the final run to challenge Howell, Logan said with a completely straight face, “(My second run) went great. I had a penguin slide at the end. I was styling, man.”

For all the athletes, there was a celebratory atmosphere in this inaugural Olympic freeskiing event — the late Sarah Burke in the hearts and minds of many, including the winner.

“I said the other day, I really hope a Canadian brings home a gold medal — that it will be for Sarah,” said Howell. “This medal is definitely for Sarah. She pushed the sport so much and she always wanted to see the progression and to see girls throwing kind of what the guys were throwing. She always had a smile on her face and loved what she did, and today that’s what I did.”

American Keri Herman, a 31-year-old veteran of the women’s freeskiing, finished 10th — not the result she was hoping for — but she was nonetheless elated to be competing at the Olympics in Russia.

“You win some; you lose some. I feel like I still won,” Herman said. “I consider myself a winner. I mean, I’m an Olympian. This rules. … Oh my god, this is going to bring our sport to the world.”

See more photos from today’s competition in our gallery.

 

RESULTS — Women’s ski slopestyle

Rank Bib FIS Code Name Year Nation Result Level Points
 1  2  2528756 HOWELL Dara 1994 CAN  94.20  1000.00
 2  4  2527818 LOGAN Devin 1993 USA  85.40  800.00
 3  16  2529234 LAMARRE Kim 1988 CAN  85.00  600.00
 4  32  2345395 SEGAL Anna 1986 AUS  77.00  500.00
 5  5  2529152 DAHLSTROM Emma 1992 SWE  75.40  450.00
 6  20  2527174 TSUBOTA Yuki 1994 CAN  71.60  400.00
 7  12  2529086 SUMMERHAYES Katie 1995 GBR  70.60  360.00
 8  6  2530121 BERTAGNA Silvia 1986 ITA  69.60  320.00
 9  11  2529019 BHEND Eveline 1981 SUI  63.20  290.00
 10  3  2529231 HERMAN Keri 1982 USA  50.00  260.00
 11  30  2529530 KRASS Julia 1997 USA  42.40  240.00
 12  18  2530158 BERRA Camillia 1994 SUI  30.40  220.00
 13  8  2530054 OHACO Dominique 1995 CHI  69.60  200.00
 14  1  2530814 ZIMMERMANN Lisa 1996 GER  67.20  180.00
 15  26  2530636 WILLCOX-SILFVERBERG Anna 1992 NZL  62.40  160.00
 16  19  2531183 BAIR Philomena 1996 AUT  57.60  150.00
 17  29  2531618 MARINO Julia 1992 PAR  36.40  140.00
 18  28  2529119 SLEPECKA Natalia 1983 SVK  34.60  130.00
 19  33  2529233 TURSKI Kaya 1988 CAN  28.00  120.00
 20  13  2529929 STROMKOVA Zuzana 1990 SVK  24.40  110.00
 21  31  2528604 MIRTOVA Anna 1992 RUS  21.60  0.00
 22  27  2529084 TAKAO Chiho 1984 JPN  10.00  0.00

Share This Article

About the Author: Geoff Mintz

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked on the hill prior to pursuing a career in journalism. Mintz served as associate editor for Ski Racing Media from 2011 to 2015. He later reconnected with his local roots to manage all marketing and communications for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail before resuming work at SRM as editor-in-chief.