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FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT S PORTS A5 Stay connected with local sports! Get text alerts with up-to-date scores and schedules from Central Oregon high school sports events. Sign up at bendbulletin.com/text or scan the QR code. THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021 bendbulletin.com/sports SNOWBOARDING NFL ALPINE SKIING Hirano lands first triple cork 1440 COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. — The next big leap in snowboarding went down Sunday on a sun- splashed halfpipe in Col- orado with a trick that set the stakes for the gold- medal race to Beijing. Japanese snowboard star Ayumu Hirano fin- ished fifth at the Dew Tour, but his spot in the standings hardly mat- tered. What did was that he became the first per- son to land the difficult, dangerous and once unthinkable triple-cork jump in competition. “It’s just a game- changer because the level of halfpipe riding has gotten so crazy,” said snowboarding commen- tator Jonathan “DC” Oet- ken, who was at the bot- tom of the pipe Sunday. Ayumu, the two-time Olympic silver medalist, pulled off what’s officially called a frontside triple cork 1440, a jump that involves three head-over- heels flips with a twist while grabbing the board above the 22-foot-high halfpipe. Ayumu’s history-mak- ing jump at the top of the pipe made him wob- bly in the setup to the next trick. He fell on it and didn’t finish the run, which accounted for the fifth-place finish. But there was no denying that in a sport that trea- sures progression over practically everything else, his jump will be the buzz of the halfpipe world as the sport makes its way to the Olympics, and probably beyond. “This is crazy,” said Ayu- mu’s Japanese teammate, Yuto Totsuka, who won the contest. “I will make sure (to have it in) the next competition.” All the top Japanese riders, including Totsuka and Sunday’s third-place finisher, Ruka Hirano, have been working on the trick in practice. Who- ever lands it best, or at all, could be wearing a gold medal around their neck come Feb. 11 in the mountains above Beijing. Is Shaun White in that mix? Hard to tell. Though the three-time Olympic champion has worked on the trick over time, he also has aban- doned it before, feeling it was too dangerous to pull off in a high-stakes contest. White was nowhere near thinking about triple corks on Sunday. A bro- ken binding ruined his first run and he fell on the first jump of his second. He executed back-to- back 1260-degree jumps for the first time this season, but he finished seventh. “I was fighting an up- hill battle,” White said. “I was just so happy to get a good run down.” He heads into the last Olympic qualifying con- test, next month at Mam- moth Mountain, Califor- nia, without the podium finish that would give him an automatic spot on the U.S. team. Even with- out that, he would almost certainly make the team as a coaches’ pick, but the clock is ticking on the 35-year-old who is saying this will be his final Olym- pic journey. Another American, Taylor Gold, finished sec- ond thanks to the sort of stylistic run, filled with difficult grabs and spins, that makes snowboard- ing purists drool, even if it doesn’t include the sky- high tricks that capture the headlines. —Associated Press Radamus makes an impact on World Cup Once a junior sensation, the U.S. skier has three top-10 finishes in giant slalom races Seahawks’ late-season playoff push is up against Rams’ surge BY GREG BEACHAM Associated Press Gabriele Facciotti/AP U.S. skier River Radamus speeds down the course during a men’s World Cup giant slalom in Alta Badia, Italy, on Sunday. BY ANDREW DAMPF • Associated Press L A VILLA, Italy — There’s nothing easy about evolving from a top junior skier into a World Cup contender. Just ask River Radamus, the Colorado racer He also placed sixth in the season-opening giant slalom in Sölden, Austria, in October. “Any time you can come here and put two runs together it feels good. I love this hill who won three golds at the 2016 Winter Youth and getting sixth here is huge for me,” said Olympics and four medals (two golds and two Radamus, who placed fourth in the opening silvers) at the junior world championships leg with the No. 18 bib. “It’s definitely a step in from 2017-2019. the right direction. I take the points, take the The 23-year-old Radamus has been pushing result and I keep going forward.” his body to the limit this season, though, and The Gran Risa has everything that a giant the results are starting to come — just in time slalom should offer: steep pitches that wind for the Beijing Olympics in February. through the woods at the start, 180-degree Radamus matched his career-best World turns and even built-in rolls and flatter terrain Cup result by skiing through pain in his lower toward the finish that sometimes result in right leg to finish sixth in the demanding Alta small jumps. Badia giant slalom on Sunday. He then finished 10th in another GS race on Monday for his It’s a long course, too, leaving racers winded toward the finish. third top-10 finish in four GS races this season. See Radamus / A7 INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Quandre Diggs lined up against Matthew Stafford ev- ery day in practice for 4 1/2 seasons in Detroit, so the Se- attle safety knows a little more about the tendencies and tal- ents of Los Angeles’ quarter- back than his teammates. “That’s my guy,” said Diggs, the leading Pro Bowl vote-get- ter among NFC free safeties. “He’s going to try to attack me, and I’m going to try and get him.” The Seahawks (5-8) will take every little edge they can get when they travel to SoFi Sta- dium on Tuesday (moved from Sunday due to COVID-19 out- breaks) for an NFC West show- down with the Rams (9-4) that could prove vital to both teams’ playoff hopes. Seattle is clinging to hope of a late-season surge back into postseason contention af- ter its 3-8 start to the season. Back-to-back wins have kept the Seahawks alive for their 10th consecutive winning re- cord under coach Pete Car- roll, but a loss in Inglewood would end that streak — and could prove insurmountable in the crowded NFC playoff picture. “According to the outside, we were out of it two weeks ago, and it doesn’t matter what we’ve done the last two weeks,” Diggs said. “We’re still 5-8. ... We’re comfortable with the un- comfortable. Right now we’re in an uncomfortable situation, so we’ve got to make do.” Meanwhile, the Rams have also put together back-to-back victories after a three-game winless November, securing their fifth straight winning season under Sean McVay — something this franchise hadn’t done in more than four de- cades. They’re leading the wild- card playoff standings while keeping pressure on NFC West leader Arizona (10-3) with four games to go, but every game left on Los Angeles’ schedule looks difficult. Seattle would never qual- ify as an easy game — even though the Rams have won seven of the rivals’ past nine meetings, including games at Lumen Field in last year’s play- offs and again last October. The Seahawks haven’t even scored 20 points in their past five meetings with the Rams. See Seahawks / A7 COLLEGE FOOTBALL New Oregon QB Bo Nix has ties to Dillingham BY JAMES CREPEA The Oregonian EUGENE — Oregon is add- ing a veteran quarterback from the SEC. Bo Nix, the former Au- burn quarterback who began his college career by beating the Ducks in the 2019 season opener, announced he’s trans- ferring to Oregon. The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Nix just finished his third- year sophomore season at Au- burn, where he completed a career-high 61% of his throws for 2,294 yards with 11 touch- downs and three interceptions and ran for 168 yards and four scores in 10 games before suf- fering a fractured ankle. Oregon offensive coordi- nator Kenny Dillingham was in the same role at Auburn in 2019, when Nix won SEC Freshman of the Year. Last week, Nix explained his decision to transfer from Auburn, where his father, Pat, also played quarterback, and what he would be seeking in a new team. “I think when you look at it from afar the main thing is is to go somewhere that needs a quarterback and can kind of make ends meet to what a great team is going to look like,” Nix said during his weekly appearance on The JBoy Show. “I’m excited to go and find a new team that is eager to continue to have success and I would like to go into a place to where, like I said, they’re just missing a quarterback to the piece of the puzzle for them to be really good. With that being said, it’s not everywhere — not every- where needs a quarterback. There’s a lot of places out there with great quarterbacks and then there’s a lot of guys that are about to land great quar- terbacks, a lot of guys like me in the transfer portal that are good and going to go and play somewhere. See Nix / A7 Ron Jenkins/AP file Auburn quarterback Bo Nix (10) throws downfield against Oregon during a 2019 game in Arlington, Texas. Nix announced late Sunday that he is transferring to Oregon.
