SNOWBOARD – HALFPIPE: Vancouver 2010 Gold medallist Torah Bright will be out to defend her Olympic title when the Women’s Halfpipe gets underway at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on Wednesday from 2pm local time (9pm AEDT).

The fun-loving 27-year-old has a busy program at the Sochi Games. She has already placed seventh in the Slopestyle and will race Snowboard Cross on Sunday.  But there’s no doubt the Halfpipe is her main event.

While the Cooma-born rider has been splitting her training and competition time between the three different events, she’s still managed to stay at the top of her game in Halfpipe, grabbing Gold in the Superpipe at the prestigious Dew Tour late last year.

Bright won’t be alone out there, with three more teammates aiming to throw down massive runs.

This is Holly Crawford’s third Games and she will be hoping to improve on her 8^th place from Vancouver 2010. She has been on the podium in the past three World Championships including winning the 2011 World Title. A medal at these Games would be the perfect present for the rider who turned 30 on Day 3 of the Games.

Olympic debutant Hannah Trigger has overcome injury to find good form this season, her best result 9^th at a World Cup event in Ruka, Finland. She’ll be aiming for the semi-finals and to execute a perfect run.

Sydneysider Steph Magiros completes the Australian contingent as she makes her Olympic debut. The former gymnast’s best result was 10^th at a World Cup event in Park City, Utah last year.

Australian Snowboard Coach Ben Alexander is optimistic the Australian girls can deliver at Extreme Park.

“The girls have definitely got some tricks in the bag and they’re just looking forward to competing tonight,” Alexander said.

“If conditions stay like they are now, they should be able to put down tricks they intend to do.

“It will take some clean, progressive snowboarding. Good amplitude, good execution, with some smooth styley tricks, which those girls are very able to perform.

“The pipe becomes challenging when it becomes soft in warm conditions. But these girls are seasoned performers and they know what to do in that situation.”

When asked whether an Australian can win another snowboard medal.

“Holly and Torah are definitely seasoned campaigners and been on podiums before. It’s by no means an easy feat. The level of riding is high. But our girls are strong.

“The American girls are always strong when they’re riding well and there are some Chinese girls in there as well.”

“Steph and Hannah have done really well to be here. It’s a great achievement to get to Olympics and they’ll be looking to get through qualifying and into the semis.”

The biggest threat to Bright defending her Olympic gold medal and Crawford making her first Olympic podium is Kelly Clark. The American won gold at Salt Lake 2002, bronze at Vancouver 2010 and was fourth at Torino 2006. 

Clark has a big bag of tricks which includes a frontside 1080 and a second cab switch frontside 1080. If she can land both these tricks she will be very difficult to beat.

Last month Clark won the X Games Superpipe to become the most decorated female athlete in X Games history, with 12 medals. Bright chose to sit out X Games to prepare for Sochi.

Clark's US teammates are also incredibly strong, including 2006 Olympic champion Hannah Teater, Kaitlyn Farrington and Arielle Gold. 

The condition of the Halfpipe at Extreme Park might impact what the riders can do in competition. Course designers have been making some adjustments to the pipe since the snowboarders complained that the walls were too steep and the bottom too soft.

Bright fell during training, but walked away without injury. Warm weather on Monday and Tuesday worsened conditions and there was more criticism during the men's competition on Tuesday.

The top three finishers in each of the two heats go directly to the finals. The riders ranked fourth through ninth of each heat will advance to the semi-final and vie for six more spots in the finals, which begin at 9.30pm (4.30am AEDT Thursday).