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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Simmen wins men's halfpipe and Germany's Thost wins women's halfpipe
 Yuri Yoshikawa failed to qualify for the final |
Snowboarder Simmen wins 1st Swiss Olympic gold in Nagano
Up-and-coming Gian Simmen won the first gold medal for Switzerland in the Nagano Olympics as he topped both runs in the men's snowboard halfpipe competition Thursday.
The 20-year-old Swiss, who posted a comfortable 5.7-point lead after the first run, managed only the fourth best mark in the second attempt but still claimed the title with a total of 85.2 points and a winning margin of 2.8 points.
Simmen received the highest marks for standard air maneuvers, amplitude of jumps and technical merit -- three of the five elements being judged -- in his first run down the semi-cylindrical course at the rainy Kambayashi Snowboard Park in Yamanouchi, Nagano Prefecture.
Switzerland now has two medals from the 18th Winter Games, including the bronze medal won, also in snowboard, by Ueli Kestenholz in the men's giant slalom last Sunday.
Kestenholz's bronze medal could be upgraded to silver if the disqualification of gold medal winner Ross Rebagliati of Canada holds. Rebagliati tested positive for marijuana and has been disqualified pending an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Daniel Franck of Norway, sitting in seventh place after the first round of the 16-man final, received the highest second-run score of 44.3 points to vault into a silver-medal finish with a total of 82.4 points.
American Ross Powers, the 1996 world champion, came another 0.3 point behind to take the bronze.
The four Japanese snowboarders entered in the men's competition all fell short of advancing past the qualifying rounds earlier Thursday.
Results of snowboard men's halfpipe finals Thursday in the 18th Olympic Winter Games at Kanbayashi, Yamanouchi, Nagano Prefecture:
1. Gian Simmen, Switzerland 85.2 points (43.8, 41.4)
2. Daniel Franck, Norway 82.4 (38.1, 44.3)
3. Ross Powers, U.S. 82.1 (40.3, 41.8)
4. Fabien Rohrer, Switzerland 78.7 (36.4, 42.3)
5. Guillaume Chastagnol, France 78.3 (37.8, 40.5)
6. Jacob Soderqvist, Sweden 77.8 (38.3, 39.5)
7. Sebastian Kuhlberg, Finland 76.6 (36.8, 39.8)
8. Michael Michalchuck, Canada 76.0 (38.6, 37.4)
9. Brett Carpentier, Canada 75.6 (43.3, 32.3)
10. Jonathan Collomb-Patton, France 75.5 (36.2, 39.3)
Germany's Thost wins Olympic women's halfpipe
Nicola Thost of Germany came from behind to win the Olympic women's halfpipe gold medal in snowboarding Thursday in Yamanouchi, Nagano Prefecture.
Thost, who placed second after the first run, performed two clean spinning jumps while zigzagging down the semi-cylindrical course under drizzly skies at Kambayashi Snowboard Park to receive the highest scores for landing and technical merit.
The 20-year-old German, the winner of three World Cup events this season, received the second best marks in both the first and second runs for a combined winning total of 74.6 points, edging Norway's Stine Brun Kjeldaas by a mere 0.4 point.
Kjeldaas, the winner of last February's World Cup held here as an Olympic rehearsal event, moved up from a fourth-place first run to a silver medal finish after a well-balanced routine that earned her first place in the second run.
First-round leader Shannon Dunn of the United States lost balance twice and fell into third place with 72.8 points in the eight-woman final for the bronze.
Yuri Yoshikawa, who in January became the first Japanese to win a World Cup snowboard event, and compatriot Kaori Takeyama both failed to qualify for the final after finishing 20th and 22nd in the elimination rounds earlier Thursday. (Kyodo News)
Results of snowboard women's halfpipe finals Thursday in the 18th Olympic Winter Games at Kanbayashi, Yamanouchi, Nagano Prefecture:
1. Nicola Thost, Germany 74.6 points (37.5, 37.1)
2. Stine Kjeldaas, Norway 74.2 (36.7, 37.5)
3. Shannon Dunn, U.S. 72.8 (38.8, 34.0)
4. Cara-Beth Burnside, U.S. 72.6 (36.1, 36.5)
5. Maelle Ricker, Canada 71.1 (36.8, 34.3)
6. Minna Hesso, Finland 70.8 (34.8, 36.0)
7. Jenny Jonsson, Sweden 65.9 (31.8, 34.1)
8. Jennie Waara, Sweden 62.7 (30.9, 31.8)
No part of the article, photographs, or illustrations presented here may be printed or used without permission.
Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun
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