She soared into the lead in women’s ski halfpipe on the first of her three runs and never looked back. Sharpe, a skier since childhood, rode her first halfpipe in 2012 and by 2015, had announced herself as one of the most technical skiers to ever drop into a women’s halfpipe competition. Where some skiers had looked hesitant on their first runs, Sharpe dropped in with the hardest tricks in the field and made them all look easy. She was the force behind the inclusion of halfpipe skiing and slopestyle in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Mike Riddle — the Sochi silver medallist in men’s halfpipe who dropped in for his qualifications not long after Sharpe won gold — had always expected great things from her here.

Source: thestar February 20, 2018 03:01 UTC