Bob Sledding
- Feb 21
- 4 min read
We watch the Olympics all day so you don’t have to.
And there still was a full day of events, the last one. There are events on Sunday, but only a few, most notably the men’s Gold Medal hockey game between the U.S. and Canada. But for now there were a few interesting results.
In the second heat of the men’s Short Track 1,500m race, where they top two finishers advance, two of the racers crashed, and then another went down going around a turn. The two leaders were far enough ahead with just two laps to go that the announcer commented that all they had to do was coast in to qualify for the finals. But on the last turn…the leader slipped and crashed! The best that the announcers could figure that they was a problem with the ice, since most of those who went down were doing so around the same turn.
In speedskating, one of the top Americans, Corinne Stoddard, ranked #2 in the world, had had a deeply unfortunate Olympics, crashing in all four of her races. And was so distraught that she posted a very moving apology on social media – which got an outpouring of support. And in her last event, the 1,500m race, she skated wonderfully and got a Bronze Medal.
The Mass Start speedskating race is 16 laps, and 6,400k. It has odd rules: for the heats to determine who qualifies for the finals, they go by both the finishing results, but points for where people finish at certain points. The finals are determined solely by the finish – and are helped when racers have a teammate from their country competing, so they can plan strategy together. In the men’s race, where American Jordan Stolz was a favorite, but had not teammate to help, two skaters got so far ahead early that no one wanted to challenged them, assuming they’d return to the pack, but they never did. And though Stolz wanted to pick of the pace of the others, he knew that leading this “peloton” group is a problem, since you have no one to draft off of, and those behind you will be able to more easily pass you at the end. Ultimately, Dutch skater Jorrit Bergsman won, and Stolz just missed a medal finishing fourth.
In the women’s Mass Start, 36-year-old U.S. skater Mia Manganello was in the final race of her career, and – with some strategy help by her teammate Greta Meyers, finished third, getting the Bronze Medal.
For the Mixed Team Aerial (the aerial basically being the skiing equivalent to high diving in the Summer Olympics), the U.S. team were defending champions, though two of the members of that team had retired. It came down to the final jump, by the remaining member of that 2022 team, Christopher Lillis, and he nailed it. So, the Americans defended their title.
The Ski Cross is essentially the exact same as the Snowboard Cross. The difference is that the former is on skis, the latter using a snowboard. Yes, they’re different, but not all that much. This is one of the few “extreme sports” I sort of like, though – racing down a winding course with a couple of jumps thrown in. The snowboard discipline is more exciting because you never know how many of the competitors will crash. The skiing version, with more stability, and is a more interesting race. Daniela Meyers of Germany won.
That brings us to the 50m cross country ski, about 30 miles which takes about two hours. How dominant were the Norwegians here (and in cross country)? Not only were they in the top three places, the next closest, in fourth place, was two minutes behind. Near the very end, the two leaders were just seconds apart, until – of course – Johannes Klaebo pulled away, and won his sixth Gold Medal of the Games, the most ever by anyone in Winter Olympics history, topping the five by U.S. speedskater Eric Heiden.
And then, there was the bobsled.
The Olympics have already had the single bobsled and two-person bobsled events, which I like, but finally, on the final full day of competition, they had the four-person bobsled. My favorite. I’ve been waiting and waiting. They saved the best for (literally) last.
As I noted, there are two Olympic sports I love because if I got a call one day that said, “Bob, we lost one of the people on our team, can you fly to the Olympics today to help us out,” I could do it and accomplish my dream of being an Olympic athlete. One of those is curling – yes, I’d be terrible, and we’d finish an embarrassing last. But I can walk on ice and sweep. And the other is the four-person bobsled. (And no, it has nothing to do with its wonderful and appropriate name. That just makes it better, a cherry on the top). Yes, I could do the two-person, but I like the four-person the most because twice as many people are involved, jumping hurriedly over the side, which makes it more fun to watch, more of a madhouse, and also adds more stability to the sled – very helpful for my involvement. And if I got that last-second call, I could be the brakeman – I can help the other three push the sled from behind for 10 yards, step through the rear opening, and then sit down. Again, we’d be terrible, really slow, but I could do it. And with three others pushing, we’d lose less time than if it was just me and the pilot. But I could do it, if I got the call.
And yes, I know it’s terrifying (and no, I don’t like rollercoasters), and there’s risk, but as long as you’re crouching down and protected with a helmet and by the bobsled itself, and have your eyes shut closed, along with three other teammates for security in numbers, it’s a hellish ride that’s over in about 50 seconds. And I’d be an Olympic athlete!
How terrifying? SNL’s Colin Jost did a wonderful piece about the bobsled for the NBC broadcast earlier in the week. It looks pretty terrifying. Which Jost is pretty clear about -
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