|
 Parrot's score of 97.50 was the best of the day as the
competition burst into life in the second heat. Roope Tonteri of
Finland snared second with 95.75, which would also have been good
enough to win the first heat.
First heat winner Staale Sandbech's 94.50 would only have been good
enough for third spot in the second heat as the competitors upped
the ante in the bright Sochi sunshine.
Sweden's Sven Thorgren held on for third place in the second heat,
with Norwegian Gjermund Braaten in fourth, grabbing the final two
automatic places for Saturday's final.
Those who missed out on automatic qualifying still have the chance
to grab one of four remaining berths when they compete in a
semi-final on Saturday.
Earlier, Sandbech put in a blazing second run to win the opening on
Thursday, the first day of competition at the Sochi Olympics.
Sandbech's first run scored a modest 45.25 but the Norwegian notched
94.50 on his second run. Finland's Peetu Piroinen took second place,
with Sebastien Toutant of Canada coming in third.
America's Charles Guldemond missed out on the fourth spot by just
0.75 of a point after Britain's Jamie Nicholls used his final run to
sneak past and snatch the berth in the final.
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"I definitely had a good time this morning until I just got bumped
out on that last run, which was very disappointing, but I've got to
stay positive and move on to semi-day," Guldemond told Reuters.
"Obviously I wanted to make that top four cut and it didn't work
out, I just need to clean things up a little bit. But nothing ever
came easy to me, but when it happened I thought, 'OK, I've seen this
before!'"
Australian Scotty James recovered from a heavy fall to make his
second run but failed to qualify automatically for the final.
Seen clutching his ribs as he left the slope after the first run,
James revealed that his injury was actually in a much more tender
place.
"I was really embarrassed, I actually hurt my 'man parts' real bad
and I was in a lot of pain, and I didn't really know where to put my
hands," he said.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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