Skier Henry Sildaru fails to qualify at Milano Cortina Winter Olympics
Freestyle skier Henry Sildaru failed to reach the men's Big Air event final at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
Sildaru, 19, younger brother of Beijing bronze medalist Kelly, had been disappointed with his Olympic debut after finishing 21st out of 28 in the slopestyle qualification last week.
On Sunday he had another chance to chase a spot in the final, this time competing in the Big Air qualification, even though this is not his strongest suit: He finished 15th at the Aspen World Cup event at the start of last year; 14th in a World Cup stage in Beijing in December.
The Big Air event requires each competitor to perform three large jumps, with the scores from the two best attempts aggregated. Twenty-nine skiers were taking part; the top 12 progressed to the final.
Of his three qualification jumps, only Sildaru's final attempt was successful, but by then his hopes of advancing had already faded.
A combined score of 122 points from his two best runs (80 + 42) placed the Estonian 22nd, not enough to go through.
The qualification was won by U.S. competitor Mac Forehand with 183 points (83.25 + 89.75).
Big Air was included in the Olympic program for the first time four years ago, in Beijing.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
