Sport

Winter Olympics: Irish in action on day 13 in Beijing

Brendan Newby finishes 20th in halfpipe qualifying; only one Irish athlete left

Ireland’s Brendan Newby finished 20th in halfpipe qualification. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

Thu Feb 17 2022 - 12:56

Ireland’s Brendan Newby has finished 20th in the qualifying round of the freestyle skiing halfpipe at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Newby, who is appearing at his second winter Games, went two better than his 22nd place finish in Pyeongchang 2018 thanks to a score of 47 achieved on his second run.

However only the top 12 places in qualification move to the finals, which will take place on Friday February 19th.

In the halfpipe qualifiers athletes have two runs, with their best result counting towards the overall standings.

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Newby, speaking after his second run, said: “In the first run I did a left cork 900 and I went really big on it, and I was hyped on that one. I then came into a red cork 540 and then the next trick was a left flare.

“And those top three were going really, really good. Then I was just going real fast, I had a lot of heat coming into the trick that I fell on, the cork 720, and I just got a little too psyched, a little too amped and I popped.

“I landed really low on the wall, you land backwards, so I landed really low on the wall going backwards, so I got crunch rapped going into the transition. That one definitely got me rattled coming into the second run.

“I wish I could have put down that first run clean because I was going much bigger than I normally do, but hey, it’s a competition and stuff happens that you would rather didn’t happen, but I did my best today and that’s what really matters.

Coming into the second run, the plans didn’t change, I was going to do the same run either way. But I just had to get over the nerves of crashing in the first run. It is way better to crash second run than the first one.”

There now is just one Team Ireland athlete left to compete in China, withThomas Maloney Westgaard up in Saturday’s Cross-Country 50km.

Men’s Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe Qualification Rounds:

First - Aaron Blunck (USA) Run 1 26.25, Run 2 92.00 Best Score 92.00

Second - Nico Porteous (NZL) Run 1 75.5, Run 2 90.50, Best Score 90.50

Third - Birk Irving (USA) Run 1 83.35, Run 2 89.75, Best Score 89.75

20th - Brendan (Bubba) Newby (IRL) Run 1 10.75, Run 2 47.00, Best Score 47.00

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