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Breckenridge’s Keri Herman finishes 10th in women’s freestyle slopestyle in Sochi

Ed Stoner
estoner@vaildaily.com
Devin Logan of the United States takes a jump during the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle qualifying at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
AP | AP

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — Keri Herman’s runs didn’t go the way she would have liked, but you couldn’t tell by how excited she was.

She was happy with the way she skied. She was having a blast at the games. She was thrilled to see her sport rise to a new level of exposure in its first Olympics.

And then she looked up to see her good friend and teammate Devin Logan securing the silver medal.



“This is so awesome,” said Herman, 31, of Breckenridge. “She’s sitting in second. This is amazing. This is the best! That’s my girl!”

Herman finished 10th in Tuesday’s Sochi Winter Olympics slopestyle competition at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.




Canadian Dara Howell got the gold, Logan came away with silver and Canadian Kim Lamarre won bronze.

Logan landed a right 540 with a Japan grab, a switch left 540 and a cork 720 tail grab for the American medal.

“I’m really happy with my skiing,” Logan said. “I landed what I wanted to land, and it couldn’t have felt any better.”

Warm conditions caused slushy and grippy snow. Logan said she treated it like a spring day skiing with her friends.

For Herman, the conditions made it hard to get enough speed. She hit the knuckle on two of her jumps in her second run.

In her first run, she nailed the toughest part of the run — 540 to switch cork 540 to 720 — but she had a weird hiccup on the top rail that even she couldn’t explain.

“That was a fluke,” Herman said. “That’s so weird. I have no idea. But that happens. You just have work with the hand you’re dealt and apparently I got dealt the joker that run.”

Her nerves were nearly overwhelming before her first run. She hardly ever gets nervous but was feeling a range of emotions as slopestyle was set for its Olympic debut.

“I’m pretty sure I was hit with every single possible emotion that you can ever have at the top,” Herman said. “I almost threw up. I was like, ‘What is going on?” Scared, excited, crazy, all at the same time.”

Diana and John Herman made the trip from Minnesota to watch their daughter compete. It’s been an emotional few days watching Keri in the Olympics, including marching in the opening ceremony.

“I couldn’t be more proud of her,” John Herman said. “I get choked up. I couldn’t be more proud.”

Keri Herman said now that the competition and the stress of competing are behind her, she’ll enjoy the games. She has tickets to hockey games — her childhood friend Zach Parise is captain of the U.S. team — and will watch the men’s slopestyle team compete in two days.

Herman said she’ll continue to compete and will aim to return to the Olympics.

“Korea, look out,” she said.