Last Updated on February 11, 2010 11:20 am by drew
Men’s Moguls Odds
Experience looks to be the key factor to winning the gold medal in Men’s Moguls in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
According to vancouver2010.com, athletes in the moguls choose which of the three to four different lines they will ski down on the mogul course. After the start signal, they ski down a steep slope and over a series of offset large bumps (moguls) as high as 1.2 meters, spaced between three to four meters apart. There are two sets of ‘air bumps’, one near the top of the course, the other near the bottom, where the skiers are required to perform two different jumps of their own choice. The goal is to ski down the course as fast as possible while performing the two jumps without technical errors or loss of balance. Different mogul jumps include the 360- to 1080-degree spins, loops (side flips), off axis jumps, back and front flips, and flips with twists. The jumps can incorporate different grabs or holds of the legs or skis. Going down the moguls, skiers need to keep their upper bodies facing straight down the hill while their lower body and skis are constantly turning. Maintaining snow contact with the skis is an important element. All competitors participate in a qualification round. The top 20 skiers from the round move into the final with the start list in reverse order of the qualification results. The five “turn” judges award points based on the quality of the skiers’ turns, making deductions for technical mistakes. The two “air” judges determine what jump was performed, how high they are off the jump, and the jump’s quality. Each run is timed and compared to a pace-time set for the course, with the fast skiers being awarded more points. The skier with the highest score in the final round wins.
The defending Olympic gold medalist, Dale Begg-Smith, is favored to win again this time around.
Begg-Smith has odds of 13/8 to win the gold medal according to online sports book Sportsbook.com. Other short odds to win are Guilbaut Colas (9/2), Jesper Bjoernlund (6/1), and Alexandre Bilodeau (6/1).
Smith won the Olympic gold in 2006 for
Colas competes for
Bjoernlund competes for
Bilodeau competes for
The 2010 Winter Olympics take place from
Odds to win Freestyle Skiing Men’s Moguls at 2010 Winter Olympics
Dale Begg-Smith 13/8
Guilbaut Colas 9/2
Jesper Bjoernlund 6/1
Alexandre Bilodeau 6/1
Patrick Deneen 14/1
Michael Morse 14/1
Byron Wilson 14/1
Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau 16/1
Vincent Marquis 16/1
Maxime Gingras 16/1
Taapio Luusau 16/1
Dmitriy Reiherd 25/1
Philippe Marquis 33/1
Anthony Benna 33/1
Jeremy Cota 33/1
Noboyuki Nishi 33/1
Denis Dolgodvorov 33/1
Warren Tanner 40/1
Alexandr Smyshlyaev 50/1
Per Spett 50/1
Pierre Ochs 50/1
Sho Endo 66/1
Arttu Kiramo 66/1
Kai Ozaki 66/1
Posted: 2/11/10 11:20AM ET