South Lake Tahoe’s Maddie Bowman celebrates
winning gold in the women’s freeski halfpipe Thursday
by sitting on the shoulders of Reno’s David Wise,
who won gold in the men’s freeski halfpipe on Tuesday,
during the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games at Rosa
Khutor Extreme Park. / Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports
Written by Martha Bellisle
RGJ reporter Martha Bellisle is in Sochi, Russia, to cover Team USA and more than a dozen local Olympians at the 2014 Winter Games. Bellisle will provide live updates throughout the Olympics for Reno-area fans. Follow her on Twitter @marthabellisle. Find complete coverage of the Games and athletes with local ties who will be competing onRGJ.com/Olympics.
WOMEN’S FREESKI HALFPIPE
1. Maddie Bowman, South Lake Tahoe, 89.00
2. Marie Martinod, France, 85.40
3. Ayana Onozuka, Japan, 83.20
Bowman, of South Lake Tahoe, would have won the event with her first run, which earned her 85.80 points, but with France’s Marie Martinod close behind at 84.80, Bowman went bigger on her second run with a score of 89.0 to make sure she stayed out front.
“As someone who has been on the top for a little bit with X Games and then rolling into this, I just focused on my skiing and what I had to do, and I wanted to land a run and I landed two,” she said, flashing an easy smile that lights up her eyes.
Bowman, 20, said she had an advantage on the course because the conditions at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park were the same as they are in Tahoe in the springtime.
“The pipe’s great,” she said. “I’m from California; I love a slushy pipe, so I’m happy.
“A little piece of home, even though we’re halfway across the world.”
Bowman’s win capped a Reno-Tahoe sweep in the freeski halfpipe after Reno’s David Wise won the men’s event on Tuesday.
Martinod took women’s silver when she skied a second run that earned her 85.40 points. Ayana Onozuka of Japan won bronze with 83.20.
Bowman said her winning run didn’t come down to one big trick, but instead was a combination of all the moves through a full, solid, smooth run.
“I just wanted to lay one down,” she said. “I’m thinking and feeling this isn’t real. I think I was pretty shocked when it happened — happy and excited and all of the emotions.”
Her parents, Bill and Sue Bowman, along with grandmother, Lorna Perpall, and brother, Alec, stood along the front of the waist-high barriers calling out encouragement that would have been impossible for her to hear.
When it was clear that Bowman had the gold, her mother, Sue, had the same reaction to the gold-medal performance as her daughter — shock and excitement. Both mom and grandmother held each other crying when the announcer confirmed the victory.
