It’s been an action packed morning at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park in Sochi, with the men’s Slopestyle qualifying rounds kicking off the Olympic action.
British snowboarder Billy Morgan became the first athlete in history to ride Slopestyle at a winter Olympics as the first rider in the first heat of the day. “It was pretty cool, I didn’t realise until one of the other athletes told me at the top. I had fun and it was really good”.
Billy took things one massive step further, becoming the first athlete in history to drop a triple cork in an Olympic competition. Despite some seriously questionable scoring decisions, Billy came 6th in qualifying with a best score of 85.50, taking him forward to the semi finals on Sunday. “The course is fine. There are always changes to be made, but they sorted that out. The jumps are good and fun and fast. I messed up my first run a bit but my second run was solid”.
Then up stomped Jamie Nicholls with a heat one qualifying score of 86.75 from his second run, putting him 4th in the competition and sending him straight to the finals. “I feel amazing, I can’t explain it” said Jamie, right after the qualifying stages. “I came here and all I wanted to do was land a run and landing a run and getting to the finals is a dream come true! I’m just going to go up there again in the final and try my best. I am just happy to have made it. The standard is crazy.”
