WINTER OLYMPIC DAILY UPDATES: #11 ROWAN CHESHIRE THROUGH TO HALFPIPE FINAL
Rowan Cheshire is today’s last GB woman standing after Aimee Fuller and Molly Summerhayes crash out of the big air and halfpipe qualifications. Also, more surprises from Shiffrin, who has pulled out of the women’s downhill.
Image Source: @Rowancheshire (Twitter)
With the highs come the lows: after being ruled out of the Sochi Olympics following a heavy crash the night before those Games started, Rowan Cheshire made her Olympic debut in today Women’s Freestyle Ski Halfpipe and finished ninth to go through to tomorrow’s three-run final (01.30 GMT). Recognising that some of her runs were “a little bit scrappy”, Rowan sounds confident about tomorrow:
“It feels amazing to reach the final, I’m so happy, I can relax a little bit now and show what I can do.”
Rowan’s teammate, and younger sister of Katie Summerhayes, Molly Summerhayes, didn’t have quite such good fortune – the 2015 Junior World Champion finished 17th overall, missing out on the finals by less than seven points.
Neither did our Women’s Snowboard Big Air hope, Aimee Fuller, make it through the qualifiers. Deservedly proud to have taken part in the discipline’s Olympic debut, Aimee didn’t hold back, giving it her all:
“You had to do your biggest and best trick. If I landed, then I would have been in the final, I was just unlucky today. I think this has been the ultimate showcase of our sport and to be a part of such a progressive qualification, it’s just insane.”
Tomorrow:
Here’s to hoping our Team GB men might have better luck tomorrow as Murray Buchan, Alexander Glavatsky-Yeadon and Peter Speight all head to the Phoenix Snow Park at 04.00 GMT for the Men’s Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe qualifiers. Murray already has one Winter Olympics under his belt while Alexander and Peter are both in PyeongChang on the back of breakthrough seasons. Peter currently holds the record for best ever finish for a British male in the ski halfpipe, having bagged fourth place in the Halfpipe World Cup in China last December.
Meanwhile, the US pretender to Lindsey Vonn’s throne, Mikaela Shiffrin, has surprised us yet again by pulling out of the Women’s Downhill. Having opened her bid for a record four medals with a gold in last Thursday’s Giant Slalom, she placed a disappointing fourth in the Slalom, withdrew from the Super-G and announced today that she’s also withdrawn from the Downhill on Wednesday. The decision comes after the Alpine Combined was moved from Friday to Thursday due to a return of the dreaded PyeongChang winds, meaning she would race on consecutive days.