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A competitor makes a jump during the FIS World Cup Freestyle Ariels competition at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park in Krasnya Polyana on February 17, 2013 in Sochi, Russia. Sochi is preparing for the 2014 Winter Olympics with test events across the venues.
Moscow, Feb 21 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Sochi 2014 Winter Games organisers have said they are “pleased” with how the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park performed in the latest slew of test events for next year’s Olympics.
Almost 700 athletes from 45 countries put the park through its first international test over the last week in World Cup stages for snowboard and freestyle skiing.
“The FIS snowboard and freestyle World Cup stages were a real test for us,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of the Olympic organising committee.
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The athletes competed in seven Olympic events including snowboard halfpipe, parallel giant slalom, snowboard cross, moguls, ski cross and aerials and a new Olympic discipline in halfpipe skiing.
“The weather tried our patience us every day with pouring rain, high temperatures, fog and wet snow. Despite all the difficulties, we are pleased with how we handled these competitions.”
The warm weather forced organisers to cancel the Feb 11-13 slopestyle disciplines of the freestyle World Cup, another new event in the Olympic programme.
However, other events appeared to go smoothly, earning praise from the competitors.
“It was organised very well. I’m impressed with how well they put up with such difficult weather conditions,” Vancouver Olympic mogul champion Hannah Kearney said.
“They were trying to preserve the jumps, keep the course in shape and at the same time they had halfpipe and aerials all going on at the same time. It was a good preview of how the Olympics in Sochi will be.”
Kearney won a third consecutive World Cup stage in moguls to move to the top of the overall rankings.
The Extreme Park is located west of the Rosa Khutor plateau in Krasnaya Polyana, almost 1,200 metres above sea level and near the Alpine skiing facilities.
