SOCHI, Russia — Alpine skier Luke Steyn made history as he became the first Zimbabwean athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics after taking part in the scheduled two runs in the men’s giant slalom event at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre yesterday.
Agencies
The 20-year-old skier, whose performance was keenly followed by many sports fans around the world, was placed 57th after speeding down the Rosa Khutor course in a two-leg combined time of 3 minutes 06,55 seconds.
His total time was 21,26 seconds slower than eventual gold medal winner American Ted Ligety, who completed his two runs in 2:45:29. Steyn had earlier kick-started his Olympic campaign on a promising note in the morning, placing 61st after his first run in a time of 1:32.20.
He immediately tweeted “Bumpy or what!!!” on his official Twitter account.
His 11,12 seconds was more than the time posted by the early leader, United States ski star Ligety, who completed the first run in 1:21.08. Steyn was ranked 1 711th in the world.
Three hours later, Steyn returned for his second run, completing it in 1:34.35 which was 11,16 seconds slower than the pace set by Ligety who emerged the eventual winner of the competition.
Ligety won the giant slalom with a dominating performance, becoming the first American man to win two Olympic gold medals in Alpine skiing.
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Leading after the first run, Ligety finished with a total time of 2 minutes, 45,29 seconds. Steve Missillier of France finished second, 0,48 behind, and Alexis Pinturault, also of France, was third, 0,64 behind.
Overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria finished fourth, 0,94 behind.
Ligety’s first gold came at the 2006 Turin Games as a 21-year-old — before he had ever won a World Cup race.
The only other American to win two Olympic golds in Alpine skiing was Andrea Mead Lawrence, who took both the women’s slalom and giant slalom at the 1952 Oslo Games.
Ligety had such a large lead after the opening run — 0,93 seconds — that he could afford to ease up a bit on his second trip down, when he was only 14th fastest.
But that was more than enough to give the US its first gold in Alpine skiing of the Sochi Games.
Ligety celebrated by swirling around in the finish area, while still on his skis, then raised his arms while sitting down on the snow. Conditions were perfect, with the temperature hovering near the freezing level and skies partly cloudy.
In both runs, Ligety showed off his unparalleled technique of arcing turns, leaning down and touching the snow with his hips, gloves and thighs at every opportunity to get the best angles.
Other skiers displayed sharper turns, but Ligety’s were far more fluid.
