Athlete Bios
Snowboarding
Liu Jiayu may be the youngest serious medal contender
Last Updated: Friday, February 5, 2010 | 3:32 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
China's Liu Jiayu won a silver medal at an Olympic test event on Cypress Mountain. (Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images)The power of women's snowboarding shifted over to Asia in the last year, as China's Liu Jiayu won the 2008-09 World Cup halfpipe title. At 19, she will not only be the youngest of the serious medal contenders, but the rider many will pick to win the gold medal.
"She rides like a guy, and that's a compliment," said Australia's Torah Bright, another gold medal contender. "She's just really solid in her riding, her transitions. And she gets really high."
Liu, from Harbin, China, opened this season by winning the World Cup event in New Zealand, beating Kelly Clark, who was otherwise mostly unbeatable over the last year. In sporadic appearances on the tour in the last year, Liu won the world championships and earned a silver medal at the test event at Cypress Mountain, the Olympic site. Her success, recent and future, represents a major shift in women's snowboarding, dominated for years by Americans. At the 2006 Turin Games, where three Americans finished in the top four spots, two Chinese women competed in the halfpipe, finishing 28th and 31st.
A year later, Liu claimed a silver medal at a World Cup event in Canada, and her rise has been meteoric.
Fans tuning in to the Vancouver Games may not be familiar with Liu when the competition starts. There is a good chance they will know all about her by the time it ends.
