Last week, I analysed Vancouver gold medallist Torah Bright’s chances of defending her snowboard halfpipe title at the Sochi Olympics, now it’s time to explore Australia’s other great medal hopes.
While Australia is traditionally a Winter Olympic minnow, a strong Vancouver performance and our largest team ever have many hopeful that we can gain a top ten placing in the medal tally.
Along with Bright, our greatest chance at a medal is snowboarder Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin; however others do also have a shot, including skier Rush Henshaw and defending freestyle aerials gold medallist Lydia Lassila. Additionally there are also hopes that moguls whiz Dale Begg-Smith can pull out a medal-winning run.
Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin
Alex Pullin has emerged as a global superstar in the sport of snowboard cross in the years following his elimination in the quarterfinals at the Vancouver Olympics.
He won both the World Championships and World Cup Title in 2011 and then, in a sign of the excellent form he currently finds himself in, he repeated the feat in 2013.
However, in December of 2013 he suffered from back stiffness which forced him to withdraw from an event in Austria. He returned for an event in Canada but finished a disappointing 18th.
Pullin insists that he is now healthy and ready to make a run at a medal in Sochi.
There is no doubt that Pullin has the talent and ability to win Gold at the Winter Olympics, but Snowboard cross is an event with so many variables that Pullin will have no control over.
There is often contact between racers and racers can very easily take out those behind them if they crash. Possibly the only way for Pullin to avoid this is to get to the front early and stay there.
Jarryd Hughes and Cam Bolton
While Pullin is one of Australia’s best medal chances, he is not the only snowboard cross athlete with a genuine chance of medalling.
Both Jarryd Hughes and Cam Bolton have been in superb form in recent months and if they can get themselves into the final, a medal of any colour is a possibility.
Bolton recently came fifth at the Winter X Games, one of the biggest snow sports tournaments in the world. In the final at the X Games, Bolton had a slow start and then made the mistake of taking the wide line on the first corner. Such is the nature of Snowboarder Cross; Bolton’s race was effectively over after he made this mistake.
Avoiding these sorts of errors will be key to Cam’s medal chances. Jarryd Hughes is just 18 years of age and a rising star in the world of Snowboard Cross.
He burst onto the scene in 2012 when he came second in the Junior World Championships and has continued to improve in the years since.
While Hughes did not compete at the Winter X Games, he took the title in the World Cup event in Canada in December 2013. Both Bolton and Hughes are coming into peak form at the perfect time and if they make the final, anything is possible.
Without putting too much pressure on Australia’s Snowboard Cross entrants, we have three men who, if they are able to avoid the pitfalls of the preliminary rounds, are genuine chances of medalling.
Lydia Lasilla
In a similar manner to fellow Vancouver gold medallist, Torah Bright, Lydia Lassila took time off from the sport following her victory in Vancouver.
The freestyle skier had her first child in 2011 and pursued business interests in 2010 and 2011.
However, upon her return it seemed she had never even taken time out from the sport. She came second in her first World Cup event in December 2012 and has continued to improve over the past twelve months. Lasilla competes in the Aerials event, in which athletes launch themselves off a ramp and perform acrobatic tricks while in the air.
The athletes who qualify for the final must complete three jumps, with the lowest scoring four eliminated after each jump, until we get a final four, a one jump shootout for gold.
The fact that athletes must complete three jumps in a row in the final makes it very difficult to predict, it is so easy to crash out on a jump.
This can be reflected through Lassila’s recent form at World Cup events, if she has landed her qualifying jumps, she has medalled, however she has failed to land her qualifying jumps in three of her last five competitions.
If Lasilla can land her qualifying jumps, she has the tricks to be able to defend her title; all she has to do is land three jumps in a row. Lasilla will be joined by 2013 World Championships Bronze medallist Danielle Scott in the Aerials event, who is coming off the back of a second placing at a World Cup event in Lake Placid, USA.
Both Scott and Lasilla have a chance to take down the Chinese Aerial skiing juggernaut, but they must be near perfect in Sochi in order to do so.
Russ Henshaw
Russ Henshaw is heading to Sochi with one goal in mind, ‘To win’. The Slopestyle skier is competing in his first Olympic Games and hopes to back up some of his strong recent performances. Henshaw suffered a serious knee injury just 12 months ago, tearing his ACL at the 2013 Winter X Games.
He opted to avoid surgery which would have ruled him out of the Olympics and instead completed an arduous Australian winter of rehab.
After initially relearning his tricks on the trampoline, he progressed back onto the snow and has competed strongly in the limited number of events he has entered in during the 2013/14 North American season.
He placed third in a Dew Tour event in December and third in two World Cup events before qualifying for the final at this year’s Winter X Games. Unfortunately he could not put together a full run in the final at the X Games, eventually finishing eighth, but his World Cup results show that he can mix it with the world’s heavyweight Slopestyle skiers.
As is the case with all freestyle skiing events, Henshaw’s chances come down to whether he can land a full run of tricks. If he lands that perfect run, he could be walking out of Sochi having achieved his goal, as a winner.
Dale Begg-Smith
The years following his silver medal in Vancouver have been very interesting for the four-time World Champion and 2006 Olympic gold medallist.
The moguls superstar took considerable time off from competing, not competing for over three years, and then went missing in 2013, as bizarre as that may sound. His personal coach and Australian Olympic officials had no idea where he had disappeared to and did not expect him to qualify to compete at these Games.
The mysterious Begg-Smith was eventually located by a News Ltd. Journalist in the Cayman Islands, the farthest possible place from a ski field. Despite the fears of Australian officials, Begg-Smith did contact his coach and Australian officials and returned to competition in December of 2013.
Reinforcing just how much talent he has, he placed fifth and sixth in his first competition in over three years. Many experts believe that he is arguably the greatest moguls skier ever, but even the greatest in their field have to train to maintain their greatness, it remains to be seen if Begg-Smith will be able to return to his lofty heights after just five warm up competitions.
If Begg-Smith performs his best, he medals, that is not in question, but can he perform his best? That is the question that will be answered come the 10th of February.
The athletes stated above are just some of Australia’s biggest medal hopes; there are a number of other athletes with a chance of medalling in Sochi.
These include Amy Sheehan in the women’s ski halfpipe, long track speed skater Daniel Greig, moguls skier Britt Cox, ski slopestyle entrant Anna Segal and Aerial skiers David Morris and Laura Peel.
From all the team at From The Sheds we wish all the Australian entrants the best of luck and hope that they all achieve their best in Sochi.
Be sure to come back tomorrow for my take on the Russian Ice Hockey team’s chances of taking out arguably the most important medal of the game.
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