Freestyle skiing-American Owens misses first round of moguls qualifiers

[February 03, 2022] ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) -American Kai Owens, who fell during a practice session this week, did not participate in the first round of the women's Olympic freestyle moguls qualifiers on Thursday.

The 17-year-old, who was born in China and raised in the United States, had been due to start fourth in the qualifiers.

Owens on Wednesday posted photos of her bruised and swollen face on Instagram and said she had had a "little crash".

"I'm doing well, in high spirits, and working with our medical team to evaluate and make the best decisions," she said, thanking her supporters for their good wishes.

Kai Owens of the U.S. receives medical attention after falling during training REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Also not competing on Thursday was Yuliya Galysheva from Kazakhstan, who won bronze at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

It was not immediately clear why she did not participate in the first round of qualifiers.

(Reporting by Winni Zhou and Mari Saito, editing by Ed Osmond and Ken Ferris)

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