Torah Bright targets three medals at the Winter Olympic
TORAH Bright has unveiled an ambitious plan to become the first snowboarder to compete in three disciplines at the Winter Olympics and according to brother and coach Ben, win a medal in each one.
Vancouver halfpipe gold medallist Bright has already shown her bona fides in the new Games discipline of slopestyle, having won a world championship bronze medal, but it’s her decision to also pursue snowboard cross that’s expected to turn heads.
A radically different discipline that involves head-to-head racing instead of aerial tricks, snowboard cross is generally regarded as a specialist event but Ben Bright and Olympic Winter Institute boss Geoff Lipshut say Bright has the ability to succeed in all of them.
“The plan is to be in medal contention in three events come the 2014 Olympics,” Ben Bright said.
“The halfpipe qualification (for the Olympics) is done, the slopestyle qualification is 99 (per cent) done and basically we are allotting the rest of the season to boardercross.
“The plan is to qualify for all three.”
Bright raced at a low key World Cup event in Canada a week and a half ago but failed to make it out of the timed qualifying run where only the top 16 women qualify for head-to-head racing.
She finished 26th.
But her brother said it was just a matter of the two-time Winter Olympian getting enough miles under her belt to do well at the sport.
“The attributes that have got her to the top of the freestyle world in snowboarding are the same attributes that will get her to the top of the boardercross world,” he said.
“All she needs now is race time - time on snow.”
With the slopestyle event cancelled at the Sochi test events this week, Bright is scheduled to compete in the halfpipe and snowboard cross.
But with the ‘pipe struggling to hold up in warm conditions she may yet skip that event.
After a hiatus following her Games win in 2010, Bright has re-discovered her form over the past season, taking out a World Cup halfpipe event in Colorado last month.
Ben Bright said it would likely be her last Games so she thought it would be good to go out with a bang.
“Possibly I don’t think she’ll be at 2018 so it’s just nice to promote the sport of snowboarding,” he said.
“She could go to the Olympic Games and be the best in the halfpipe and bomb out in the qualifications (in other events). So why not really enjoy the Olympic experience and promote excellence?”
Qualifying for halfpipe at the Sochi World Cup test event is on Wednesday with snowboard cross and freestyle skiing disciplines to take place over the next week.
Interesting!
Props to Benny Bright for not referring to boardercross by its slave name.