But Cernik made haring helter-skelter down a roller-coaster ramp and leaping into the void

But Cernik made haring helter-skelter down a roller-coaster ramp and leaping into the void while whirling around like a helicopter and then landing in one piece seem like the most natural, effortless thing in the world.I was concerned for Mathieu Crepel. A crop-haired 16-year-old from France, he was the youngest competitor and, despite an alarming resemblance to Jean-Claude van Damme, looked so young I was doubtful about him being allowed out on his own at night. His dad taught him to snowboard when he was nine, and Crepel now divides his time between snowboarding, surfing, and skateboarding And – I nearly forgot – school. But he goes to a special sports school in the Alps where you don’t in fact go to school for long periods. Even when he is at school he studies trampoline and “musculation”. But his English is terrific, mainly because “to snowboard” in French is snowboarder (a regular verb), and “a backside flip” is un backside flip.The Austrian Stefan Gimpel edged out Cernik and Crepel in the falling-with-style main event and took away $100,000 (£69,000) and a Honda snowcat But at least all the men were still walking afterwards It was otherwise in the women’s event.

The “Corner Challenge” – throwing yourself off the edge of an immense icebox – was more like the Grand National where the last one left standing wins.Birbaum flew into the air with the greatest of ease It was only landing again that was a problem. In this temperature the snow is like rock and your bones are not. You could see her struggling to correct her trajectory, but when she hit she was at the wrong angle and went over backwards And then her head thudded into the ice. When the stretcher bearers come dashing over she didn’t move too much, except to throw a poignant, despairing arm around the neck of one of them.I know that she spent the night in the hospital at Innsbruck They said she had concussion. I wanted to speak to her on the phone (now the mobile had thawed out), but she wasn’t taking calls.

I hope at least she can see even if she can’t talk.Snowboarding is probably the most aesthetically beautiful way young people have yet invented to do harm to themselves It tests the body to a supreme degree But it tests it to destruction.. Robert Smith went one better than last year with two opening afternoon victories in the Olympia Show Jumping Championships, against the one he achieved 12 months ago. True to his word, he jumped another whirlwind round to win the second class as well.The first success was achieved with the grey Kalusha, who had won here last year when Smith was riding him competitively for the first time. Now an established partnership, with a Grand Prix victory to their credit in Alencon three weeks ago, the pair succeeded in beating a speedy round from Michael Whitaker on Prince of Wales by a 2.1sec margin. Even Smith, who had watched Whitaker’s impressive round, was surprised to have finished with as much in hand.Smith has now qualified to ride nine-year-old Kalusha in this evening’s Christmas Masters, the winner-takes-all contest in which he collected £11,500 when the grey jumped five clear rounds to win the class last year. The eight-year-old Mr Springfield will be Smith’s mount for Friday’s Christmas Cracker, from which the top 18 go forward to the World Cup Qualifier on Saturday afternoon.Assuming that he is among those who get through to the World Cup contest, Smith will then have to choose between Kalusha and Mr Springfield.

He rates these two horses as more or less equal: “Both can win grands prix and both have.”Smith, who celebrated his 40th birthday in July, had a narrower margin in hand when he rode Hennessey to victory, defeating the French former world champion, Eric Navet on Alligator Fontaine, by 0.59sec. Just 0.6sec separated the Britons who filled the next three places, with Andrew Davies squeezing ahead of the long-time leader, Tim Stockdale, with John Whitaker in fifth place.OLYMPIA SHOW JUMPING CHAMPIONSHIPS: Candle Stakes: 1 Kalusha (R Smith, GB) clear, 49.65sec; 2 Prince of Wales (M Whitaker, GB) clear, 51.66; 3 Anka (M Ehning, Ger) clear, 51.85. Snowman Stakes: 1 Hennessey (R Smith, GB) 46.77secs; 2 Alligator Fontaine (E Navet, Fr) 47.36; 3 Gamble (A Davies, GB) 48.35.* The Duke of Edinburgh yesterday received a special award for his “dedicated and distinguished service to equestrian sport” during his 22 years as president of the International Equestrian Federation.. Tactics beat form in the Cambridge University trials race yesterday, as “Yellow Lorry” outmanoeuvred “Red Lorry” from Putney to Mortlake to win by four lengths in a time of 18min 05sec. The newcomer Ewan Robson, stroke of the winning crew, was up against a daunting rival in the shape of the world champion, Rick Dunn, who set a strong rhythm for Red Lorry at the outset. Robson refused to falter under the pressure and, helped by some well-judged steering, took his crew into an unassailable lead before the Chiswick Steps.