Cross, Women

American Lindsey Jacobellis, by far the greatest ever female boarder-cross competitor, was the pre-event favorite. Jacobellis had won a silver in 2006 when she hot-dogged near the end of the final run while leading, only to fall, and drop to second place. In 2010, she had struggled and placed only fifth. But she came to Sochi with three World Championships and eight victories in the Winter X-Games. Her biggest competition was expected to come from Canadian defending champion Maëlle Ricker, but Ricker had broken her wrist a few weeks before and competed wearing a brace.

It was not to be for Jacobellis, who crashed and fell in the semi-finals. She won the B Final to place seventh, but left Sochi without the Olympic gold medal she most coveted. With her out of the A Final, Czech Eva Samková won the gold medal by taking an early lead and was never headed. She had used this strategy throughout to stay out of the crashes that affected many of the competitors. The silver went to Canada’s Dominique Maltais, who had won bronze at Vancouver, while France’s teenager Chloe Trespeuch took the bronze in Sochi.