Sochi Rushes to Fix Halfpipe Ahead of Shaun White's Olympic Run
The complaints poured in during training rounds Monday night in Sochi when men's snowboarders hit the Olympic halfpipe ahead of the one-day medal competition today.
Rider after rider tumbled or wiped out as they headed down the pipe, which they described as bumpy on the bottom due to soft, mushy snow from the warm temperatures.
Good luck to the boys competing in the halfpipe today! Hopefully they fixed that dump pile! #olympics #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/HfE4g7kEKq
I heard if the pipe doesn't hold up they are going to turn finals into a one hit method contest. #olympicrumors #Sochi2014
- Alex Deibold (@adeibold) February 11, 2014
American Danny Davis said the halfpipe was "garbage" on Sunday.
"It's a bummer to show up to an event like the Olympics and not have the quality of the halfpipe match the quality of the riders," Davis told the Associated Press. "Anyone who watched practice tonight can see there were a bunch of people bouncing around in the flat bottom."
Shaun White called the course "disappointing" Monday night.
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Officials worked through the night trying to improve the structure, making tweaks to its vertical pipe.
And this morning, the boarders returned to the slopes for qualifying rounds beginning at 5 a.m.
U.S. women's team snowboarder Hannah Teter said the course may have been successfully improved.
Word on the street is they fixed the halfpipe! Yay! #SochiProblems pic.twitter.com/3utGYTnBhT
- hannah teter (@hannahteter) February 11, 2014
The finals for the men's halfpipe will start this afternoon. All eyes will be on U.S. Olympic superstar Shaun White, who sailed through the qualifying rounds this morning, as he attempts to go for is third straight halfpipe gold.