New Zealand freeskiers Sylvia Trotter and Ruby Star Andrews put together a fierce effort in the qualification rounds of the big air at the Winter Olympics.
Both missed out on spots in the final, finishing 21st and 24th respectively, at Livigno Snow Park in Italy this morning (NZ time).
Trotter, 18, made an outstanding start to her competition, putting down a textbook landing on her right-side double 1080 with a Japan grab, earning a score of 83, which put her in sixth place at the end of the first run.
Having struggled to nail down her runs in training, Trotter described her effort in qualifying as “one of the best feelings in the world”.
She still needed another solid score, however, as big air athletes are judged on the best two of their three jumps in qualifying.
Going for the same trick on her third and final attempt, she landed cleanly, but the judges docked points for not holding on to her grab. Her score of 38 was not enough to bump her up the scoreboard.
Trotter described her first Olympic experience as “monumental” and “so special”, and said a taste of action at the top level had only made her hungry for more.
Andrews, 21, was able to put three solid jumps to her feet, opting for a switch 900 spun both left and right, but also losing points for not holding her grabs.
Her best scores were 44.50 on her first jump and 48.25 on her second.
Coming back from a dislocated hip just three months ago, Andrews said she had proved something to herself during the competition.
“I wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to do the big air this week, and I thought, you know what, I’m at the Olympics, I’m just going to give it my all.
‘‘It’s been a really tough couple of weeks testing my resilience.
‘‘Somehow, I managed to dig a bit deeper, find a bit more and give it everything, so I feel like I can walk away feeling like I gave it my all.
‘‘I’m really happy with how I skied. I just wanted to show up tonight and give it everything and walk away and be proud of myself.”
Coach Hamish MacDougall said he was exceptionally proud of Andrews’ efforts.
“Three months ago, I was holding her hand while we were waiting for a helicopter to come and scoop her up and put her hip back in,’’ he said.
‘‘Then cut to standing with her on the top of that big air tonight. I’m just the proudest coach. I’m looking forward to the next few years for her.’’
Defending champ shakes off fall
Defending gold medallist Eileen Gu of China overcame a flubbed landing to make it into the finals of the women's freeski big air event at the Winter Olympics.
After a solid first jump, the Gu could not land cleanly the second time around. She skidded on her side and one of her skis snapped off, sending her down to 17th place.
That put pressure on the 22-year-old to excel in her third jump, which she did. Instead of playing it safe, she chose a more complex trick and nailed it to temporarily move into first.
Meghan Oldham, of Canada, eclipsed Gu and ended the night top of the leaderboard.
Mathilde Gremaud, of Switzerland, the bronze medallist at Beijing 2022, was in third place.
In big air, skiers launch themselves off a jump and perform as many flips and twists as they can before landing. Judges assess height, technique, originality and other factors.
The combined tally of each skier's two best jumps determined which 12 of the 27 competitors advanced to Monday's final.
Two Italians, Flora Tabanelli and Maria Gasslitter, made it through to compete for a medal in their home country.
- Allied Media and Reuters
