Austria Could Find Some Gold

Austrians, who prefer the more traditional Alpine skiing events, didn’t have any qualifiers for the women’s halfpipe until Nicola Pederzolli emerged this year with three World Cup victories. Now she’s favored in today’s competition, even over two-time overall World Cup champion Sabine Wehr-Hasler of Germany.

The United States’ Shannon Dunn, a bronze medalist in Nagano who didn’t compete on the World Cup circuit last year while focusing on the X-Games, is a medal contender.