Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics kick off with slopestyle debut

http://themoscownews.com/

The first competition got under way at the Sochi Winter Games on Thursday as the sport of slopestyle made its much-anticipated Olympic debut.

A day before the opening ceremony in Sochi, British snowboarder Billy Morgan, a 24-year-old former circus acrobat, became the first athlete to compete, streaking over the slopestyle hill’s rails and jumps at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park. Thursday’s slopestyle qualifying puts eight of the 29 men directly through to Saturday’s final, which will be the first medal event of the Games. No one is eliminated Thursday, with all non-qualifiers getting another chance in the semifinals. Four athletes qualified directly from the first heat, Norway’s Staale Sandbech leading the way on 94.50 points, ahead of Finland’s Peetu Piironen, Canada’s Sebastian Toutant and British boarder Jamie Nicholls. Canadian gold medal favorite Max Parrot is among several strong contenders in the second heat later in the morning. Slopestyle’s first Olympic showing begins amid controversy over the course, which has been altered to lower the height of the jumps in light of complaints from athletes that it was unsafe. Norwegian boarder Torstein Horgsmo’s Olympic dream was ended when he broke his collarbone in training Monday, and U.S. star Shaun White withdrew from slopestyle Tuesday to focus on halfpipe, citing the injury risk. Slopestyle’s Olympic debut includes men’s and women’s ski and snowboard events. Later Thursday, the women’s slopestyle qualifying follows at the Extreme Park. Russia was awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics seven years ao. Hosting the Games is seen a favored pet project for President Vladimir Putin and has cost a reported $51 billion including infrastructure costs, which would be an Olympic record, although Russian officials say only $6.4 billion of competition-related costs should be considered.