Freestyle Skiing | No Canadian Medals in the “Terror Tube”

(Zhangjiakou) Noah Bowman did as always before going down the halfpipe. He took three deep breaths and smiled. With his fourth place, he was the best Canadian on Saturday, during this cold and super windy day.

Emilie Bilodeau
The Press

The Albertan came fifth at the Sochi Games as well as those in PyeongChang. He was aiming high in Beijing. ” It’s difficult. I was here to give it my all and I think that’s what I did. I’m proud of myself, but it’s still difficult to miss the podium again,” said the skier who collected 84.75 points thanks to his second out of three runs.

Weather conditions complicated Bowman’s day and that of all the skiers at the Genting terrain park. The temperature dropped to -25°C, and above all, the wind blew large rolls of snow into the half-pipe.

The latter has also been nicknamed the “tube of terror” by some commentators.

“The conditions were really difficult. It’s frustrating not to have been able to show our high level of competition to the world”, said Noah Bowman, stressing that the three best skiers of the day still delivered “enormous and impressive” performances.

“It’s always dangerous [la demi-lune] ! You take risks in this sport. Wind and the elements of nature add a degree of risk, but we know what we are doing and we calculate our risk,” he explained.

Fellow Albertan Brendan Mackay, currently No. 1 in the halfpipe World Cup standings, finished 9^and with 65.50 points.

“I hoped and wanted to do three good runs and leave it in the hands of the judges. But unfortunately that’s not what I was able to do,” explained the 24-year-old skier who fell on his first and third runs.

“I wish I had skied better, but I’ll still remember this day forever and hope to be back in four years to compete again,” added the man, who was taking part in his first Games.

Simon D’Artois of British Columbia also crashed on his first two runs and scored 63.75 on the third. He finished in 10^and rank.

“I would have liked to do three good runs, but it was super tough today. In the last of the three, I did at least one new trick. It kind of makes me happy,” explained the athlete who landed a double cork 1080 alley-oop (double twist with three rotations).

Simon D’Artois, who is bilingual, was also one of the most caring athletes in the mixed zone. He asked the reporters if they were cold. He took the time to ask the names of Canadian reporters.

New Zealander Nico Porteus (93 points) won the event. He was followed by Americans David Wise (90.75) and Alex Ferreira (86.75). All three made it to the podium in PyeongChang, but in a different order.