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Also drawing comparisons with Olympic legends were double gold medallists Jake Pate and Chloe Kim, with the US snowboarders each winning both the halfpipe and slopestyle events with an impressive array of flips and tricks.As well as being home to their aerial acrobatics, the Hafjell freestyle park also hosted the new team ski-snowboard cross event, which brought snowboarders and freestyle skiers together for the first time in an innovative relay format that proved a hit with the competing athletes. “It’s great to compete as a team,” said skier Cornel Renn, who won gold alongside his German team-mates. “You don’t feel so alone when you’re about to race and everyone supports one another.”Among the other new events showcased at Lillehammer 2016 were the unique mixed Nordic team event, which merged the disciplines of cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined, and the innovative men’s and women’s monobob, which saw individual athletes competing in streamlined single-seat bobsleighs. In addition to these new events, the NOCs of Colombia, Israel, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Portugal and Timor Leste each marked their Winter YOG debuts by sending athletes to the Games for the first time. Jamaican monobob competitor Daniel Mayhew, in particular, received plenty of attention from fans and fellow athletes by following in the tracks of his countrymen who inspired the film Cool Runnings by competing at the Olympic Winter Games Calgary 1988.AboveCross-country skier Johanna Hagstršm (SWE) en route to gold in the women’s sprintBelow The ice hockey and figure skating events proved extremely popular“The vibe and the atmosphere have been amazing and it’s extraordinary to be the first athlete from Jamaica to compete here,” he said. “Everyone knows me and wants to talk about Cool Runnings Ð it’s been awesome and I’ve really enjoyed meeting new people and having new experiences. It’s been life-changing for me.”Other athletes also had similarly remarkable journeys to the Games, with Brazil’s Altair Firmino competing in cross-country skiing just three years after being introduced to the sport through roller skiing as part of a social development project on the streets of S‹o Paulo.“I never imagined that I would end up somewhere like this,” said the 16-year-old. “I was just doing it for fun in my spare time, but then I began to understand how important it could be in my life and the chances it could create for me, so I took it more seriously. Some of my friends think I’m crazy, but most of them think it’s cool and they encourage me to keep doing it because it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”ÔTHE VIBE AND THE ATMOSPHERE HAVE BEEN AMAZING AND ITÕS EXTRAORDINARY TO BE THE FIRST ATHLETE FROM JAMAICA TO COMPETE [AT THE WINTER YOG]. ITÕS BEEN LIFE-CHANGING FOR MEÕDANIEL MAYHEW (JAM), MONOBOBLILLEHAMMER 2016 REVIEW38 OLYMPIC REVIEW