Eileen Gu's Slopestyle and Halfpipe Events (III): Halfpipe

choi

(1) Jing Yang and Laine Higgins, Eileen Gu Is Golden Again at the Beijing Olympics After Win in the Freeski Halfpipe. Wall Street Journal, Feb 18, 2022.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/eil ... alfpipe-11645155304
https://www.codesports.com.au/wi ... 469ca9422e15aac0df8

paragraphs 2-4 (inclusive):

"She [Gu] will leave Beijing as the first athlete—man or woman—to win three freestyle skiing medals in a single Olympics. The big air event, in which Gu won a surprise gold, debuted at these Games. Gu earned a silver medal in the slopestyle event earlier this week.

"Gu's performance was so dominant that her final trip down the halfpipe was a de facto victory run, as her 95.00-point second run was the highest in the field by nearly five points. Defending gold medallist Cassie Sharp of Canada attempted a third run with the highest degree of difficulty of any competitor in the field, but fell short, earning 90.75 points—placing her in silver medal position. Rachael Karker, also of Canada, took bronze with a 87.75-point run.

"Of all the medals Gu won in Beijing, her gold on Friday was the most expected. Across five competitions during the 2021-22 season, Gu was undefeated in the event. She made her victory on Friday all but a foregone conclusion with a solid first run that scored 93.25 and vaulted her to the top of the standings.

Note: There is no need to read the rest.


(2) Jo Gunston, Slopestyle, Halfpipe and Big Air – What's the Difference?  Olympic.com, Nov 10, 2021
https://olympics.com/en/news/slo ... hats-the-difference

Quote:

(a) "Snowboard and freestyle skiing competitions have a reputation for being innovative, dynamic and exciting. * * *

(b) "The main connotation of the word ‘freestyle’ is around the ‘judging’ of the competitions.

"Tricks in slopestyle, halfpipe and big air aren't scored individually, such as seen in artistic gymnastics or figure skating [eg, points for quad toe loop is fixed], but judged on the overall impression of the run. Scores range from 1-100 and are an average is taken from the judges.

"It's not a free-for-all for the panel of judges from different nations though. There's an effort to leave room for creativity and chutzpah from the athletes.

Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest.
(b)
(i) freestyle skiing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_skiing
("is also commonly referred to as freeskiing")
(ii) Freestyle skiing is just one kind of skiing. See skiing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiing
(section 2 Types, section 3 Competitions)

choi

(3) Ken Browne, Ailing (Eileen) Gu in Olympic Freeski Halfpipe Final: Preview, Schedule & Stars to Watch. Olympic.com, Feb 17, 2022.
https://olympics.com/en/news/eil ... view-schedule-stars

two consecutive paragraphs:

"In her first run on Thursday she put down back-to-back 900s with big amplitude for 93.75 points - a score which would have easily qualified her in first place - and went even bigger on Run 2.

"The 18-year-old put down two more massive 900s, a signature Buick grab, a 720 tail grab, switch 360 Japan, opposite alley-oop flatspins, and all with huge amplitude for a massive 95.50 second score.

Note:
(a) In freestyle skiing, there is tail grab, and there is Buick grab.
(i) In tail grab, the skier grabs the tail of the ski (hand and ski on the same side of the body) without having to look at the ski. (The front of ski is "nose."_
(ii) In Buick grab, the skier grabs the tail of the ski with BOTH hands, necessitating his looking back to ascertain where the ski tail really is.

(b) The 900 means two and a half turns (2.5 turns times 360 degrees a turn); by definition the skier will land backward, facing the way he came from.  

In my Feb 10, 2022 posting titled "Shrugging off Her Mother's Advice, Gu Vaults to the Gold," Note (d)(iii)(A) had
Leah Fielding, X-Game Dictionary: Freeskiing Tricks Explained. Ski.com, Dec 1, 2019 ("To the Mountains Blog")
https://www.ski.com/blog/x-games ... g-tricks-explained/
("FREESKIING TERMS
* * *
THE LINGO OF SPINS
* * *
        • 1260º or '12': The skier makes three full 360º rotations with an extra 180º in the switch landing")

This "switch," with the same meaning, will reappear in (d).

(c) The "back-to-back 900s" simply means two consecutive 900s.  Simon Tabron pulled the World's first world's back-to-back 900s in the BMX "Freestyle Vert" riding (with a bike) of the Aug 1, 2009 X Games 15 -- and was placed second. (There is no video of him doing so in the Web.) The X in X Games denotes extreme (sports); X Games 15 or X Games 15 was number 15 (counting from the inauguration).
(i) Born (on Oct 17, 1973) and raised in Liverpool, England but now living in California, Simon Tabron in September 2020 -- a month shy of 47 -- suffered heart attack and stroke at the same time, and is recovering.
(ii) To pull a stunt or a trick on somebody is a phrase.
(iii) vert (sport)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vert_(sport)   
("The term itself comes from the word 'vertical,' the direction in which the competitor is moving after leaving the ramp" upwards in the air)

is in contrast to mega ramp or megaramp. Specifications of either ramps are not fixed, but in a range. Those in the Olympics are classified as mega ramps, so you have an idea what they are.
(iv) BMX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMX
is also mentioned in (d)(iv)(A) below.


(d) "switch 360 Japan" = "switch 360" plus Japan grab
(i) Before learning what "switch 360" is, we have to learn "skiing switch."
(ii) How to Ski Backwards - The Snow Centre, Aug 17, 2017
https://www.thesnowcentre.com/snowsure/news/howtoskibackwards
("Skiing backwards, otherwise known as skiing switch, is usually considered an advanced skiing skill")
(ii) Switch 180 Ski Snowpark Grandvalira. YouTube.com, uploaded by Théo Dumont on Jan 8, 2017 (a video of 11 seconds long).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRKizyg7dZw
(iii) Luke Miller, Tele Switch. Descender (website), undated
www.descender.com/content/riptip.htm
("Once you nail the fakie-to-forward 180 & the forward-to-fakie 180, then it's time to step it up. Go for switch 360's and forward-to-fakie 540's!")
showing himself doing "switch 180" and (forward-to-fakie) "switch 540" in two series of photos (the latter progressing from right to left, from forward to fakie).
(iv) Fakie?  In a nutshell, fakie is identical to switch, except that the former came from snowboarding.
(A) beaucottington (user's screen name)m Switch or Fakie. "12 years ago"  
https://www.newschoolers.com/for ... tch-or-fakie?page=2
("skiing backwards should be referred to as fakie not switch. * * * Fakie comes from skateboarding, in line skating, and even bmx now")

But the first sentence of the quotation is not universally accepted.
(B) X Games Dictionary: Freestyle Skiing Tricks Explained. Ski.com ("the largest ski package providers in North America"), undated (in "To the Mountains Blog")
https://www.ski.com/blog/x-games ... g-tricks-explained/
("TRICK POSITIONS
• Normal/Forward: The skier is moving forward (down the pipe or jump) in a basic stance.
• Fakie/Switch: The skier is taking off or landing backwards. These tricks are considered more difficult")
(C) Julian Linden, Halfpipe Skiers Ready to Show off Amazing Trick. Reuters, Feb 7, 2014
https://www.reuters.com/article/ ... INBREA160VT20140207

Quote:

"In the slang of extreme sports, it is known simply as a switch. But for everyone else, it is the mind-boggling act of skiing backwards.

"Not only do they ski backwards, but they launch themselves backwards off the lip of the giant [half]pipes to enter a sequence of choreographed somersaults and spins.

The second quotation is EXACTlLY what Eileen Gu did. See (d)(v).

• Please read the entire report.
(iv) Switch 540 by Mike!!!!!  YouTube.com, uploaded by Ski Sawmill on Mar 6, 2021 (slow motions).
https://x.facebook.com/SkiSawmil ... e/1307719382944753/
(v)
(A) Eileen Gu Wins Freeski Halfpipe Gold for Third Olympic Medal. NBC Sports, Feb 17, 2022
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayare ... third-olympic-medal
(video caption: "Eileen Gu won her second gold medal of the 2022 Winter Olympics with a victory in the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final.https://www.nbcsports.com/bayare ... third-olympic-medal")
• The caption did not say which run (out of three( this video was about, nor did it say there was a switch 360 Japan.
• The length of the video is a minute (1:00) -- there is no slow motion . At 0:24 Gu landed backwards, from there she launched backwards, and then landed forward. This is 360 degrees, but for hours today I thought that was 180 degrees -- until I saw the photo in (e)(iii)(B). Still I view this NBC video several more times, and could not discern the Japan grab in between "launch[ing] backwards, and then land[ing] forward," Fortunately for me, Gu did almost the same last year. See next.
(B) Gu and Ferreira Open Halfpipe Season on Top. FIS, Dec 11, 2021.
https://www.fis-ski.com/en/frees ... fpipe-season-on-top

Quote:

• "The 2021/22 FIS Freeski halfpipe World Cup season opened in thrilling - and chilly - fashion at Copper Mountain Resort [in Colorado, 75 miles west of Denver] (USA) on Friday, with China's Ailing Eileen Gu and Colorado's own Alex Ferreira braving the cold and falling snow [to win gold for women and men, respectively]

• "Gu rolls on with second World Cup win in less than a week [which is sectional heading]

"None, of course, were more solid than Eileen Gu on Friday, as the 18-year-old - who was fresh off a big air win at the Visa Big Air presented by Toyota at Steamboat Resort [in northwestern Colorado at Steamboat Springs] just six days ago -  showed once again why she’s arguably the most exceptionally well-rounded freeskier in the world right now.

"Leading off her first run with a right side 900 with the Buick grab that only she is doing in the women's field, Gu followed that up with a left 900 Japan, a right 720 opposite tail, a switch 360 Japan, a left alley-oop flat 540 mute and finally a left 540 double grab to earn a score of 90.50 that would hold up to all challengers and give her her second career halfpipe World Cup win.

The video in this article did not say which run (out of two) it (video) was about. However, at 0:15 (out of 1:05; there is no slow motion), she landed backward, and at 0:18 she made the Japan grab (right hand to left ski), whose screen grab is

ATTACHENT US HERE.
(You can do iut on your own by OAUSE the video and drag the timer little by little.)


(e) "opposite alley-oop flatspins"
(i) in basket ball:
(A) alley-oop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alley-oop
(section 1 Etymology: "is derived from the French term allez hop!, the cry of a circus acrobat about to leap")

You read this, and think the jumper says this. But the term is used by her teammate.
(B) French-English dictionary:
* allez (v): "1: second-person plural present indicative of aller [English: to go]  
2: second-person plural imperative of aller"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/allez


Second-person, not first-person.
* allez hop !: "off you go!"
https://www.collinsdictionary.co ... h-english/allez-hop
* hop (interjection)https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hop
* Allez, hop! Wordpress.com, June 24, 2008
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/allez-hop.1009889/
(DidoCarthage on Sept 25, 2014: "I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd mention, for any interested party that happens by, that there is an English expression, "Alley oop!" which fairly clearly comes from this French one. It's a thing you say when coordinating effort: 'Ok, everybody, all lift together, alley.....OOP!' Acrobats also say it in the circus when performing something like a lift or a toss. In fact, given that a great deal of the language of circus acrobatics is French, they probably are saying, "Allez, hop!" (even if the English speaking ones don't know it - Ha!)" )
(ii) in skiing:
(A) A picture is worth a thousand words. So I will present the picture first before explaining,

How to Alley-Oop  (snowboarding)
https://whitelines.com/snowboard ... ow-to-ally-oop.html
(the last photo)
(B) Freestyle Skiing 101: Glossary. NBC Olympics, Oct 12, 2021.
https://www.nbcolympics.com/news/freestyle-skiing-101-glossary

Quote:

"Alley-oop: In halfpipe competition, when a skier rotates 180 degrees or more in the uphill direction. This increases the difficulty of a trick because the skier is spinning against their direction of travel. ]S sloer moves upwards while twisting her body backwards, whether she trunbs to her right or left.[

"Halfpipe: An icy, sloped, U-shaped course. Skiers go back and forth between the walls of the pipe, performing a trick each time they go up the wall and above the pipe. The length can vary, but the standard height for a competition is 22 feet. Also called a superpipe.

(iii) flatspoin
(A) https://www.ski.com/blog/x-games ... g-tricks-explained/
("Flatspin: The skier is completely horizontal, but axis of rotation is vertical [that of the body from head to toe]")
(B) Again, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Dan Carr,  Skiing - in Wanaka, New Zealand - Alley-Oop Flat 360 in the Halfpipe. Dan Carr Photography, undated ("From dancarrphotography.com").
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/268597565246472843/

You see, it is 360 degrees, no doubt about it, but he landed backwards!!
(iv) "opposite alley-oop" in skiing
(A) In basketball, reverse alley oop means a slam dunk with the basket at your back (not front). Here is a video.

JR Smith Throws Down a Reverse Alley-Oop in 240fps!. YouTube.com, uploaded by NBA on Feb 23, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A85p7tHgtZM

fps = feet per second (as opposed to meters per second, for speed)
(B) For details, see next posting.