Both Currier men were/are the same height, same weight, same build, same intensity when entering the Games. David is a longtime employee of Smith Optics, still heavily entrenched in the snow sports industry. Lyman, naturally, is a Smith ski team sponsored athlete (along with Quiksilver, SickTrix, K2 Skis, Marker, Dalbello, and GoPro). Ironically, even though Freesking Slopestyle and Halfpipe weren’t even around when David qualified for Sapporo in Downhill and Giant Slalom, Lyman has inherited the same competitiveness, strong mental and physical capabilities, and a sensibility about danger and risk. While Downhill emphasizes precision and speeds approaching 90MPH (now 100MPH!) over extremely difficult terrain; modern-day halfpipe demands precision and speed for ever increasing amplitude. Requires certainly with all that is going on, especially much of the time taking off or landing backwards (or ‘switch’). So, what can we expect to see in Sochi? Here’s a sampling of what Lyman’s been throwing down on his way to Russia:
pipe and has a window about 3 feet wide to hit. Miss in either direction and the penalties are severe. Too much outside and he’ll land on the deck, as he did in a warm-up event in Copper before the 3rd at Dew Tour Olympic Qualifier, shattering his tailbone and separating 2 ribs, just 5 days before the Dew Tour Olympic Qualifier. Too much inside and well, let’s not go there. Commenting on the role that the USASA has played in Lyman’s road to Sochi, David Currier stated: “Lyman is certainly indebted to the Rocky Mountain Series, and has no doubt that he wouldn’t be where he is today without USASA providing a real development comp series close to home, with a National Championships (also in his backyard every year!) that allowed him to compete in an Open division at a very early age. Without USASA, it would have been really hit or miss for him to travel long distances to try to break into the pro ranks.”
Lyman’s signature opening trick, a switch double corked 1080, involves dropping into the pipe backwards, going up and taking off the opposing wall backwards with enough speed to elevate for 3-4 seconds, 20+ feet above the pipe deck (and, since the pipe walls are 22’ high, 42+ feet about the flatbottom of the pipe). All the while flipping backwards twice down the pipe, off-axis (the ‘corked’ part), and spinning 3 full rotaions. All the while holding an elaborate ‘grab’ of his ski! This maneuver is mostly done blind, in Lyman’s mind’s eye, as he sees the pipe only briefly during the backwards flips, and again just prior to landing as near to top of the deck as possible (more speed and easy amplitude for the next trick). In that 3-4 seconds, 20 feet above the deck, he’ll travel about 80-90 feet down the 2014 Visa Freeskiing Grand Prix in Park City, UT
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