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Heil finds silver lining

Canadians solid but Americans capture gold and bronze in women's moguls

 

With the weight of a nation's expectations on her shoulders - first medal of the Games, first gold medal on Canadian soil, a gold medal from 2006 to defend, not to mention her own expectations for herself - Jennifer Heil was calm, collected and skied two phenomenal runs at Cypress on Saturday.

But the U.S. women's moguls team, probably the strongest in the world right now, was not conceding anything and in the end the day belonged to American Hannah Kearney.

Heil settled for the silver medal.

The crowd sat through seven hours of weather that can only be described as gross, cold, rainy and windy, aware that there was a chance that the finals might not happen at all if the forecast for rain and fog came to pass. Ringing cowbells and cheering loudly they celebrated every competitor, every big jump, every athlete who fell and got up again.

Pemberton's Kristi Richards fell in the middle section on her final run, but after she picked herself up and put her ski back on she waved to the crowed to make some noise before heading into the second jump and launching a stylish twisting backflip.

American skiers Michelle Roark and Heather McPhie fell on their runs but the crowd cheered them too as they smiled through their frustration.

In the end the crowd also seemed recognized that it was unfair that winning a silver medal can feel like losing. After all, for freestyle competitors the Olympics is just another event, a slightly bigger contest on a growing global World Cup tour that is already attracting crowds in the tens of thousands. How do you measure one event against the backdrop of an entire season, or one season in a long career?

Not that a silver medal is anything to apologize for.

While disappointed, it didn't take Heil long to put things into perspective.

"I don't know what the difference was in scores, but it's such fierce competition, every time we click into our bindings it's so competitive," she said. "I love that the other girls push me to be my best, and today Hannah was the best.

"Of course I was going for the gold medal, of course that's where 100 per cent of my focus was... but I really do feel like I won the silver today. This medal is for Canada. I feel so well supported, all the Canadians are behind us, this is our Games and I'm just so proud to be Canadian."

If nothing else the crowd saw just how tight the competition is on the World Cup circuit these days with strong teams in Canada, the U.S. and Japan, and up-and-coming athletes from Russia, Kazakhstan, Italy, and half a dozen other nations.

For her part, Kearney knew after winning the qualifier that a gold medal was in reach and charged the course.

"In the first run I felt borderline out of control because the moisture made the snow really quick, but that made me realize that I could ski it really fast and I pushed it in the second run," she said. "I kept my turns nice and tight and I think the speed helped.

"I heard Jenn's score, I heard the crowd, I knew I was going to ski well... and just went for it."

She said she felt for Heil but everybody in the field was going for a gold medal, and in her sport anybody can win on any given day.

"In one day anything can happen," Kearney said. "If they held this competition tomorrow there's no guarantee that I could win it."

She also noted that it's a judged event and while you can think you skied well you never know how judges will score your run.

A reporter asked Kearney if all the step climbing this summer paid off. Kearney said it did.

"My trainer gave me a card this morning with the number of steps I've done, the number of jumps I'd taken, the number of hours I'd ridden a bike, and when you look at those numbers you get a lot of confidence becuase you know you've done everything possible," she said.

Shannon Bahrke of the U.S. placed third with an aggressive run and some of the biggest airs of the day. She came into the Olympics knowing that this was her last season, and while she was disappointed with her qualification run she never let the pressure get to her.

"I've just been training so well and skiing the way I wanted to, but after that first run I talked to my fiance, I talked to my coach and they said 'you're in striking distance, you can do it.' I had to think about that, about all my hard work and I couldn't wait to get back up the course for the second run."

The biggest revelation for Canada in the Games was the performance of Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, just 18 years old and competing in her first Olympic Games. She had some of the best jumps of the day, but her turn and air points kept her just off the podium. She finished fifth, less than a point back of veteran Aiko Uemura of Japan.

A lot of the journalists in the crowd were surprised that Dufour-Lapointe didn't score higher with her twisting backflip off the top air and a huge layout backflip on the bottom air.

While most competitors looked serious at the start gate, Dufour-Lapointe was relaxed and smiling. She waved at the crowd before her run.

"I was just extremely happy to be there, I was just thinking about having fun and enjoying every second I was at the top... and to hear the crowd was so cool," she said. "The course was just so amazing to ski, it was soft and really forgiving.

"I can take a lot of confidence from this, I'm 18 and was fifth at the Olympics - how can next year not be good? To be up there against these girls is big for me, and I'm really enjoying the skiing and the whole experience of competing on the World Cup."

Kristi Richard's Olympic dreams crashed on mid-course after the biggest backflip of the day on the top air. She came into the middle section with too much speed, skimming the crests of the moguls at full speed until she crashed. She redeemed herself to the crowd with a corked twisting backflip on the bottom jump. She placed 20th.

All of the athletes gave high marks to the course, which crews worked around the clock to get ready for the Games by pushing snow down the mountain, flying loads in by helicopter and trucking in snow from as far away as Manning Provincial Park. The slopes surrounding the Olympic venues were bare, but the courses themselves appeared to be in good shape, despite the rain and continuing warm weather.

There were concerns about the fog, but otherwise athletes were not worried that the event would be postponed because of the wind and rain.

"Every day it's been raining up here, but the conditions have been great," said Bahrke. "The course is  in amazing shape, and I think all of us fully expected to compete."