Page 93 - Speed Skiing News Today

More talk about the danger and prevention of head injuries. at the womens slopestyle snowboarding finals a 23-year-old czech athlete came down so hard after a fall that it cracked her helmet open. shes said to be okay. but its another reminder of the head injury danger faced by athletes. more tonight from kevin tibbles. >> banged up my shoulders. got a lot of concussions. >> few concussions here. >> hit my head a couple of times on the ice. >> and gave myself a pretty bad concussion. >> reporter...

>> reporter: how do you do that in an olympic final? >> i dont know. thats my thought process. >> reporter: organizers suggested they do know why some of the venues look so empty, despite statements that 92s are of tickets were sold. a lot of people, they suggest, are showing up late. >> russians like to come to the event not prior by as close as possible. >> reporter: figure skating is drawing crowds and photos of ashley wagner went viral, one after her performance, the other reacting to her sc...

>> it was really cool standing at the top today. it felt like the olympics for sure. >> reporter: but thursday, just seconds into her moguls warmup, a terrible crash. as she was carried off the mountain, she says she knew the games were over for her before they began. and with the innocence of that young girl who wanted to represent her country for so long, she asked her parents, am i still an olympian? did you think you were not? >> i dont know. i just didnt know for sure. i felt like i had to ...

Downhill course proved to be amazing. the final jump including the american laurenne ross so high, officials stopped the practice to make changes. >> it was incredibly dangerous but probably a good decision to shave it down a little bit. >> reporter: as for karly shorr, her face held the story, a good first run until a fall on the last jump. the second run? success. and one more note from the mountain. five-time olympic medal bode miller posted the famous training run in the mens downhill today....

But she has more self-belief maybe than any teen around here. teen sensation mikaela shiffrin is just 18 too. one of the youngest champions in alpine skiing ever. >> she is the bomb in alpine skiing. >> bode miller is a bad boy veteran. >> he could either blow himself up or win the whole thing. >> reporter: want an epic rivalry? look no further than womens hockey. >> i think were ready to go, were more motivated than ever. >> reporter: and this team really does not like the canadians, at least o...

Its been interesting to see how its developed and changed over the past few days. >> reporter: many competitors have criticized the sochi course for being too risky-- even by the sports own death-defying standards. white had injured his wrist training on it this week while a norwegian boarder had broken his collarbone and another from finland sustained a concussion. white himself had had a bad fall at a slope style event in california last month. he doesnt want another one. anyway, whites prime ...

Still being asked tonight, is sochi ready? to waving flags and cheers, the olympic torch arrived in sochi today and america named its flag bearing. the only six-time winter olympian, nordic skier todd lodwick. a lot of excitement, but drama too. one of the biggest stars of the game, snowboarder shaun white dropped out of the new slope style event. he hinted at it in a morning news conference, wanting to focus on his other event instead. >> its tough juggling both events. its not easy. its someth...

Doing to your body. and later, two brothers show bob costas what the olympic spirit we talk about is really all about.

The one event that unites the world, the greatest athletes on snow and ice. the sochi olympics winter games begins february 6th on nbc. here in beautiful hawaii, we are just 30 minutes from seeing some of the nfls best play in the pro bowl. but first, a sunday night football special. ♪ ♪ >> the 2013 nfl season. >> what a touchdown! >> yes, an amazing catch! >> oh, what an individual effort!

Finally tonight, we all know by tonight that american skier lindsey vonn is out of the competition, but another athlete named lindsey van is a name well hear a lot about. we learned today that lindsey van is among those who will be representing team usa in womens ski jumping, it is a brand-new olympic event for women. it comes after the american fought a long-hard battle just to compete. we get our report tonight from nbcs anne thompson. >> reporter: meet the first women on the ski jumping team,...