And that's a wrap. The 2014 Winter Games

And that's a wrap. The 2014 Winter Games in Sochi have come to a close and the 2014 Paralympics don't begin until March 7, 2014. Which means Mike Atkinson legendary freeskier and a judge for the Sochi halfpipe and slopestyle ski events is on his way home. Atkinson is one of the strongest and most knowledgeable voices in competitive freeskiing and over the past couple weeks, he’s been The Insider's exclusive source in Sochi. Here is his final report. Take it away Mikey!

In the downtime I also checked out some snowboard cross. The course looked pretty gnarly right from the start and riders had to be on point to get out in front early and hopefully make it through all the whoops, jumps and turns. I saw reigning Olympic champ/Whistler rider Maelle Ricker but didn’t get a chance to say hi. It wasn’t her year this time out but after winning a gold in 2010 in her own country just minutes from her front door… it probably doesn't ever get better than that. The first ever boardercross was held in Whistler in early 1990s so it's awesome to see a local like Maelle out givin’er at the world's biggest sporting event. And of course, big congrats to Dominique Maltais for her silver medal this year.

Overall, Canadian women have been on fire this year. Whistler’s Marielle Thompson took home the gold in ladies skicross later in the week and teammate Kelsey Serwa got the silver. The weather was in-and-out that day but I think inagurual Olympic ski cross champ (and Whistler kid) Ashleigh McIvor summed it up when she said, “Whistler has some of the best skiing on the planet and we get a lot of big storms. Growing up you learn to ski in all kinds of conditions, and all kinds of terrain.” Proving Ash’s point is the fact that Whistler High School is now 2-for-2 in Olympic Women’s ski cross. That’s pretty incredible.