Snowboard and freestyle skiing competitors are unique in that their uniforms allow them to wear earbuds along with their preferred music device — and the Washington Post reports that slopestylers at the Winter Olympics are using that loophole to their benefit, competing with a personal soundtrack pumped straight into their ears.The most popular genres among the snowboarders the Post surveyed? Hip-hop and R&B. Chloe Kim played “Motorsport” by Atlanta-based rap trio Migos when she blasted her way to a slopestyle gold medal, while slopestyle skier Devin Logan competed while listening to Kendrick Lamar. Fellow ski slopestyler Darian Stevens opted for smoother sounds — playing “Caught Up” by Usher during her run.The practice is trendy and convenient, but does it work? Depends on the athlete.Some competitors interviewed by the Post said they didn’t use earbuds because aural cues from the surrounding environment help them perform. Swedish slopestyler Niklas Mattsson said he likes to hear the sound of his board, which in turn means ditching earbuds while he rides.But for other athletes, in-competition music is normal and natural — and often helpful, according to Matthew Stork, a PhD student at UBC studying the link between music and performance.“There’s an innate human tendency to synchronize movement with musical rhythm,” Stork told the Post. “Music has the potential to put athletes in a spot mentally or emotionally where they’re able to operate or perform in a more optimal way.”KOREAN OVAL, CANADIAN ICE: Early in Monday’s team pursuit speedskating event, a trio of women from the Netherlands set an Olympic record. Later on, Korean skater Min Kyu Cha broke the Olympic standard in the men’s 500 metres, only to watch eventual gold medallist Havard Lorentzen of Norway shave a hundredth of a second off his time.If three Olympic records in a single evening signal that the ice ...
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