We’ve been focused on the threat to Olympic athletes from terrorism … but it looks like the slopestyle course at the Sochi games is every bit as dangerous.
What’s slopestyle?
It’s a hybrid sport involving obstacle navigation and trick jumps … with a healthy downhill component added to the mix. Making its winter debut in Sochi, the sport seemed tailor made for U.S. snowboarder Shaun White. Unfortunately White will not be participating after injuring his wrist during a recent practice run.
“After much deliberation with my team, I have made the decision to focus solely on trying to bring home the third straight gold medal in halfpipe for Team USA,” White said. “The difficult decision to forego slopestyle is not one I take lightly as I know how much effort everyone has put into holding the slopestyle event for the first time in Olympic history, a history I had planned on being a part of.”
White wasn’t the only one who sustained an injury – as a Norwegian slopestyler broke his collarbone during another practice run.
Ouch …
Here’s Russian Olympian Alexey Sobolev giving us a great view of the course that’s got everyone so scared …
Intense …
Meanwhile for an amazing wide angle clip of ski snowstyle (as featured during a recent Winter X games), click here …
4 comments
Crazy people to do that kind of stuff. I’ll just sit on my couch and watch.
I tried water skiing once, took a week to get the swimsuit outta my crack. No way I’m gonna crack bones in the snow. All of this stuff is an uncontrolled experiment.
No thanks. Looks like they put metal bars in the way.
I thought “slope style” was a new pop music song out of Vietnam.
I don’t know if this candyass looks dumber with his long hair or his new short hair.