New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott has cruised into the finals of the women's snowboard slopestyle qualifiers at the Beijing Olympics.
New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott competes in the snowboard women's slopestyle qualification run during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on February 5, 2022. Photo: Marco Bertorello / AFP
Sadowski-Synnott put down a smooth run in blustery weather, while Kokomo Murase of Japan made a confident debut.
In a clean ride over a course designed with Great Wall motifs, Sadowski-Synnott earned a best score of 86.75 after she successfully landed the backside 900 off the final jump.
"I was pretty stoked on that one, to put it down all the tricks together," said the 20-year-old who is among the favourites.
However, Sadowski-Synnott is leaving some tricks up her sleeve for the finals, which will be held on Sunday.
"I have got a bit more in the tank for tomorrow," she said.
Murase, who was too young to compete at Pyeongchang 2018, advanced in second place.
At the X Games in Oslo, Murase, now 17, became the youngest snowboarder to win at the event, capturing the Big Air title.
Reigning twice gold medallist Jamie Anderson of the United States was also among the 12 athletes to advance to the finals but the 31-year-old was unhappy with her run.
Saying the course was "super challenging," Anderson said she was nevertheless grateful to be back on Olympic slopes.
"I felt really pissed after my last run. Such is life, highs and lows," she said, advancing in fifth place with 74.35 points.
The air temperature dropped to -20.4 degree Celsius at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou right before the start of the qualifiers, the bone-chilling wind leaving many volunteers with frozen eyelashes.
Athletes said the extreme cold and strong gusts of wind posed serious risks as they slid down a course designed to look like the Great Wall.
"It's cold! It's hard to keep your core temperature warm and then doing tricks feels a little bit more intimidating as you are just, like, stiff," Anderson said.
"The wind was a little bit tricky because sometimes you can feel it on the course to throw you off the game. You just really have to adapt," Sadowski-Synnott said.
The stands were half-filled by local university students waving flags emblazoned with the popular Olympics panda mascot.
Boarders on Saturday dropped into the course, sliding over the roof and rail of a snowy replica of an ancient watchtower.
-Reuters