Winter Olympic funding pays for crashes as snowboarders and skiers bomb out

VIDEO: WHAT does Olympic snowboard and ski cross funding buy you? Six crashes from our seven racers so far.

AUSTRALIA’S snowboard and ski cross racers certainly gave Australia plenty of bang for its buck.

What they didn’t give us was finals appearances or medals.

Snowboarders Torah Bright, Belle Brockhoff, Cameron Bolton and Jarryd Hughes and skiers Anton Grimus and Scott Kneller all ate snow during their races as their podium aspirations went down publicly and painfully.

No Australian qualified for a medal final in the crash and bash events, with Brockhoff our best result in 8th.

Brockhoff’s father took aim at the Australian Olympic Committee earlier this week for its lopsided funding allocation, however even those who received substantial investment failed to impress.

Only our No. 1 medal hope Alex “Chumpy” Pullin crossed the finish line without crashing at least once during the competition, but he blew his chance anyway with a dodgy line into one of the Sochi course’s corners.

The cost of preparing Australia’s Winter Olympics team for Sochi was about $20 million, with the team’s return of two silver medals and a bronze already being described as a disappointment.