KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — The big jump near the end of the women’s Olympic downhill was described by skiers as “smooth” and “just fine” and even “easy.”
Then again, that was after some major course work Thursday helped turn the final feature from terrifying to rather tame.
Anna Fenninger of Austria had the fastest time in a training run that had to be halted early on so workers could alter a harrowing jump. Fenninger finished the tricky course in 1 minute, 41.73 seconds to put herself 0.21 seconds ahead of Fraenzi Aufdenblatten of Switzerland. American Julia Mancuso was third.
“It was smooth,” Mancuso said of the last jump. “You’re going a little bit slower than most downhills and then it just shoots up. It feels more difficult than it is.”
That part of the course was causing all sorts of difficulties earlier in the day. The training session was stopped after the opening three racers were getting too much air on the jump down the home stretch. After an hour delay, the three racers were given the option of running the course again, with only American Laurenne Ross doing so. Daniela Merighetti of Italy skipped the re-run after hurting both knees when she landed.
Bode Miller mastered the Olympic course on his very first run Thursday, leading the opening downhill training session.
A bronze medalist in the event four years ago, the 36-year-old Miller clocked 2 minutes, 7.75 seconds down the Rosa Khutor piste, where he injured his left knee two years ago during the Sochi test event.
“Unfortunately they don’t give you medals for training runs,” Miller said. “If they did, I would be psyched today. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to come out here and ski well first run. I just have to keep trimming time.”
Patrick Kueng of Switzerland was second, a slim 0.03 seconds behind. Matthias Mayer of Austria was third, 0.17 behind, and Marco Sullivan of the United States was fourth.
And to think, Shaun White chose not to ride down this course.
Snowboarders kicked off competition at the Olympics on Thursday by making the slopestyle layout that White deemed “intimidating” feel anything but that.
Canadian Max Parrot backed up his win last month at the Winter X Games with a 97.5 — 2½ points short of perfect — in a qualifying run punctuated by a triple-flipping jump with a dead-solid landing, the likes of which will be virtually mandatory to win the gold medal.
“Other riders complained about the course this week. I actually found it really good from Day One to now,” Parrot said.
White pulled out Wednesday, saying he wanted to focus on winning a third straight gold medal in the halfpipe next week. He was in no mind to put his health at risk on a course that took out one of the world’s top riders, Torstein Horgmo of Norway, and sent dozens more tumbling in training.
Nobody is feeling White’s absence more than Parrot, who is peaking at precisely the right time.
“I’m just mad about it because I want to compete against him,” Parrot said. “I want to know who’s better.”
Leading female contender, American Jamie Anderson, had no problem the day after banging up her back in practice. She called the course conditions “questionable,” especially for the women.
“It’s a challenging course. A lot of impact for everyone,” Anderson said after a 93.5.
The top four riders in each heat advanced directly to the weekend finals, with everyone else getting another shot at qualify during semifinals. Friday is an off day.
Hannah Kearney’s bid for another Olympic gold medal in women’s moguls is off to a flawless start.
The defending champion cruised through qualifying on Thursday, posting a score of 23.05, well clear of Canada’s Chloe Dufour-Lapointe for the top spot.
Justine Dufour-Lapointe took third and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe finished eighth, assuring all three sisters a spot in the finals.
The top 10 finishers automatically advanced to the finals, with the remaining competitors returning for a second qualifying run on Saturday to fill out the rest of the field.
Eliza Outrim finished fourth to move on to the finals but her U.S. teammate Heidi Kloser did not compete after sustaining a leg injury in warm-ups. Kloser will be re-evaluated and could return to competition on Saturday.
Her teammate Verena Stuffer also elected not to race again.