Sports News

Its literally ‘head first’ at break neck speed. The athletes that take up this sport are either mad or excessively brave – or perhaps both.

A Ghanian man, known as the Snow Leopard, competes in the slalom this week. He started skiing just over five years ago at Milton Keynes SNO!zone in England. Shades of the Jamaican bob sleigh team and Eddie the Eagle here.

American Bode Miller takes Gold in the Super-Combined event. It’s turning out to be quite a Games for the former bad boy of skiing. A few months ago it was touch and go if he would even take part for the USA in the Vancouver Olympics.

More snow has been flown to Cypress Mountain as warm temperatures and no fresh snow take their toll. It is the venue for theOlympic freestyle skiing and snowboarding events.

Olympic athletes have been warned by the IOC to exercise caution on what they write on social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook. There are strict rules on what they can and can’t say. Why?

There seems to be so many events at The Winter Olympics, so many Brits competing and of course it all goes on at a strange time of day/night for us here in Europe. It’s hard to follow it all. Here’s what happened to the Brits at the weekend.

Amy Williams takes first place in the skeleton and wins Britain’s first gold at a Winter Olympics for 30 years. It’s been a night of celebration in Vancouver and at home in the UK for her fans.

It may not sound that good but its quite an achievemnt for Britian’s number one speed skier.

The Austrians have had a poor Olympics and the country’s press have been highly ciritical. Now though they have a skiing gold from the Women’s Super-G. Chemmy Alcott disappoints.

The British skeleton competitor is in great form and leads the event by a 0.30 second margin. By the end of the day Britian may, just may, have a medal. Fingers crossed.

First it was the snowboard medal hopfull Zoe Gillings who failed to get into the final now Ben Kilner is out of the running too. He is though young with a bright future ahead of him.

It did equal her best ever in the Olympics as she came 11th in the Super Combined. The event was won by Maria Riesch after the favourite, Lyndsey Vonn, hit a gate and crashed.

She had been described as a medal hope for the Snowboard Cross but in the end didn’t make it to the final. She came 8th which is still pretty good but she was hoping for better. Today two more British medal hopefuls are in action, Chemmy Alcott and Ben Kilner.

The American ski superstar takes gold in a race with a high number of accidents. Chemmy Alcott puts in a very respectable performance and comes 13th. The talk though is of the course and the crashes.

It’s emerged that a number came to the rescue of some of our Olympic athletes after Snowsport GB went into administration.

The latest casualty of the weather was the men’s Super Combined. Heavy snow and rising temperatures led to a postponement. The weather continues to affect Cypress Mountain and complaints are coming in from spectators.

It was Didier Defago, rather than the favourite Didier Cuche, who won gold for Switzerland. The country’s first Downhill gold for 22 years. Svindal took silver and Bode Miller bronze in a weather delayed race.

PlanetSKI reports from Switzerland where there was quite a party as they won the Downhill for the first time in over 2 decades.

The Winter Olympics couldn’t run without them, the thousands of people who work for free to ensure it all runs smoothly. Some get the prime jobs like preparing the Downhill Course. One of them, Lyndsay Webb, is a PlanetSKI reader and reporter.

The weather is once again causing a few headaches. It foggy at Cypress Mountain while snow and rain have led to the men’s downhill and the women’s Super Combined being postponed. The Opening Cermoney went off well, dedicated to the Georgian luge athlete who died in training.

It is a tragedy as the Games got under way at the weekend and has cast a shadow over the opening events. The 21-year old Georgian competitor, Nodar Kumaritashvili, died in practice. Tributes are being paid to him.

Following the collapse of Snowsport GB on the eve of the Winter Olympics the athletes have been formally told they can take part in The Games. Correct funding has been secured too.

To some it has arrived like the US cavalry to save the day, for others it’s a hugely expensive last resort and an environmental disaster. Using a helicopter to ferry in snow at an Olympic venue will though allow competition to take place.

Hundreds of people who thought they had tickets for the Winter Olympics have been told they haven’t after a ticket supplier has fail to supply them.

Many of the athletes are now in Calgary in Canada putting in their final preparations before the Olympics begins in a week’s time. It’s quite an atmosphere.

The world’s top skiers raised the money for victims of the earthquake disaster in a charity auction.

The venue for the snowboarding, freestyle skiing and ski/board cross suffers from a lack of real snow. So the authorities are going to extraordinary lengths at Cypress Mountain. There is perhaps some media exaggeration and Olympic hype going on too.

Excellent news! Bode Miller has announced he will ski all 5 disciplines at the Olympics. We can’t wait.

A teeneger from Devon with a life threatening allergy to grass is off to Vancouver, all expenses paid. He couldn’t do sport on grass so he took up skiing instead.

Her unbeaten run in the Downhill this season ends as Maria Riesch wins in St Moritz. Vonn took first place in the Super-G though. Chemmy Alcott had a mixed weekend. It was the final racing ahead of the Olympics.

With the Olympics round the corner we thought we’d look on You Tube for videos of our glorious winter sports athletes. We were drawn to the bobsleigh area…….

It’s been one of his best seasons ever so far, but a World Cup Gold medal in Downhill is an impressive achievement for Britain’s No1 Disabled skier.

The Olympics take place next month and the sports governing body, Snowsport GB, could go bankrupt and be placed into administration. PlanetSKI has been talking to the skiers, their support staff and Snowsport GB about the problems.

The Swiss racer Lara Gutt will not be going to Vancouver next month. She was a favourite for a medal.

With the Olympics almost upon us we take a look at the British team and who might, just might, bring back a medal. PlanetSKI takes a look first at the alpine skiers.