Freestyle skiing-Under snowy skies, American Blunck leads halfpipe qualifiers

[February 17, 2022] 

By Winni Zhou and Mari Saito

ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) -Undeterred by snowy weather, American Aaron Blunck led the men's freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifiers at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday, followed by New Zealand's Nico Porteous, who won bronze at Pyeongchang four years ago.

Blunck, 25, roared back from his uneven first run to score 92 and bolted to first place, while Porteous, 20, nabbed the second-highest score of 90.50 after soaring high above the halfpipe to make four and a half rotations in the air.

"That was better," Porteous could be heard saying after the run. His older brother, 22-year-old Miguel, also advanced to the final in ninth place.

Veteran David Wise, who won gold in the halfpipe at both the Pyeongchang and Sochi Games, scored 89 in a confident return to the Olympics, assuring him a spot in the final.

Wise, who fractured his femur in 2019, said he was simply "relieved" to make the final.

"It's been a long road, I feel the time between the Games get longer and longer as I get older," said the 31-year-old, adding that it was a "bumpy road" coming into his third Olympics.

The stands at the venue were less than half full with fans in matching yellow rain coats and red scarves. Many supporters packed up after seeing Eileen Gu lead the women's halfpipe qualifiers earlier in the day.

First-time Olympian Brendan Mackay of Canada said many of the skiers were struggling with "Olympic nerves".

Aaron Blunck of the United States in action. REUTERS/Marko Djurica

"I was really nervous as I haven't competed for a while ... I've some nerves, Olympic nerves," said Mackay, who came in at fifth place.

Skiers soared over a giant halfpipe at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, where snow began to fall on the skiers as they got ready to drop into the halfpipe.

A number of skiers crashed and wiped out on the giant halfpipe on Thursday.

Finnish freestyle skier Jon Sallinen was halfway through his opening run when he lost control on the left lip of the pipe, soaring over the edge and clipping the camera to send the operator crashing to the snow.

Blaming the weather, Sallinen said he had hurt his collarbone from the fall.

"I was lucky not to land on my head, maybe I got a cushion from that cameraman," he said.

(Additional reporting by Philip O'ConnorEditing by Jacqueline Wong and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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