Halfpipe, Women

Halfpipe was making its Olympic début, although it had been a World Championship event since 2005, but it began under a pall, as everyone remembered the skiier that wasn’t there, Sarah Burke, the 2005 World Champion and four-time Winter X-Games Champion. Burke had died in January 2012 after a training accident in which she fell on her head at the Park City, Utah superpipe. She died nine days later from the effects of her head injury. In her memory, the skiiers tried to wear black armbands but the International Olympic Committee, in a petty ruling, would not allow that. Burke’s coach, Trennon Paynter did something better, spreading her ashes over the halfpipe course where they remain in the snow of Sochi as a tribute.

In Burke’s absence the favorite was American Maddie Bowman, who had won the superpipe at the last two Winter X-Games. Bowman came through under the pressure and won the inaugural freestyle halfpipe gold medal, followed by France’s Marie Martinod. Martinod was a 29-year-old mother of one who had been retired for several years until Burke called her to tell her that halfpipe was going to be an Olympic event. She had come out retirement to compete, though her performance made it hard to tell she had ever been away. The bronze went to Japan’s Ayana Onozuka who held the same spot at the 2013 World Championships. Skiier after skiier looked to the sky and pointed up as they finished their run, remembering the one who could not be there. Referring to Burke, gold medalist Bowman said, “It takes all of us to put on her shoes.”