Advertisement

Defending champ's heartbreaking reaction to halfpipe shocker

Maddie Bowman won gold in Sochi and was looking to go back-to-back in the ski halfpipe, but what transpired in PyeongChang was truly devastating.

The American skier looked to be a legitimate chance for gold in Tuesday's final, but she came second last after crashing out on all three of her runs.

'NIGHTMARE': Skater handles wardrobe malfunction with amazing class

STRANGE STORY: Halfpipe skier completes run without doing any tricks

Canada's Cassie Sharpe dominated her rivals with the two best runs of the final to soar to the gold medal.

Sharpe's second run score of 95.80 was more than enough to defeat France's Marie Martinod and American Brita Sigourney, who completed the podium places of an event that went to form.

The medallists celebrate. Image: Getty
The medallists celebrate. Image: Getty

All three skiers had recorded two runs of more than 90 points in qualification and they brought a similar level of consistency to a final that saw the top five qualifiers repeat their order in the medals showdown.

Signourney was the best placed of three US athletes after she edged Annalisa Drew into fourth, while Sochi gold medallist Bowman could only manage 11th of the 12 finalists after falling on all three of her runs.

In each run, attempting back-to-back 900s, she fell coming out of the last 900.

It was hard to watch. Image: Getty
It was hard to watch. Image: Getty

She stayed down on the snow after the last fall, receiving medical attention before skiing off with tears streaming down her face.

It was a heartbreaking result after such a promising start in all three runs.





The real battle at the top of the leaderboard was between Sharpe and Martinod, with both skiers laying down two runs of more than 90 points before the Frenchwoman's challenge ended when the 33-year-old crashed on her last effort.

Despite the fall, Martinod matched her silver medal from Sochi four years ago.

with agencies