Steyn makes history

Sport
Luke Steyn made history as he became the first Zimbabwean athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics after taking part in the scheduled two runs in the men’s Giant Slalom event

ALPINE Skier Luke Steyn made history as he became the first Zimbabwean athlete to compete at the Winter Olympics after taking part in the scheduled two runs in the men’s Giant Slalom event at the Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre in Sochi, Russia yesterday.

DANIEL NHAKANISO SPORTS REPORTER

The 20-year-old skier, whose performance was keenly followed by many sports fans around the world, was placed 57th after speeding down the Rosa Khutor course in a two-leg combined time of 3 minutes 06,55secs.

His total time was 21,26secs slower than eventual gold medal winner American Ted Ligety, who completed his two runs in 2:45:29.

Steyn had earlier kick-started his Olympic campaign on a promising note in the morning, placing 61st after his first run in a time of 1:32.20. He immediately tweeted “Bumpy or what!” on his official Twitter account.

His 11,12 seconds more than the time posted by the early leader, United States ski star Ligety, who completed the first run in 1:21,08. Steyn was ranked 711th in the world.

Three hours later, Steyn returned for his second run, completing it in 1:34,35 which was 11,16secs slower than the pace set by Ligety who emerged the eventual winner of the competition.

Ligety won the giant slalom at the Sochi Games with a dominating performance, becoming the first American man to win two Olympic gold medals in Alpine skiing.

Leading after the first run, Ligety finished with a total time of 2 minutes, 45,29secs. Steve Missillier of France finished second, 0,48secs behind, and Alexis Pinturault, also of France, was third, 0,64secs behind.

Overall World Cup leader Marcel Hirscher of Austria finished fourth, 0,94secs behind.

Ligety’s first gold came in combined at the 2006 Turin Games as a 21-year-old — before he had ever won a World Cup race.