World champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott of New Zealand won the slopestyle snowboard qualification at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, while Kokomo Murase of Japan made her debut and finished second.
In a clean ride on the Zoi Sadowski-Synnott route сhe achieved the best result of 86.75 points.
“I was quite excited”, said the 20-year-old, who is among the favorites.
However, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott leaves some tricks for the finals, which will take place on Sunday.
Kokomo Murase, who was too young to compete in PyeongChang 2018, took second place.
Two-time Olympic champion Jamie Anderson of the United States was also among the 12 to qualify for the finals, but the 31-year-old was unhappy with her performance.
The air temperature in the Zhangjiakou Olympic Park dropped to minus 20.4 degrees. The stands were half full of students from local universities waving flags decorated with the Olympic panda mascot.
Gusts of freezing wind and hard, artificial snow made it difficult for athletes to complain about the conditions.
“It’s cold! It’s hard to keep your body temperature warm, and then doing tricks is a little scarier because you’re just stiff”, said Jamie Anderson.
“The wind was pretty strong because sometimes you can feel it and it can get you out of the game. You just really have to adapt”, said Zoi Sadowski-Synnott.
