Kelly and Henry Sildaru both make Switzerland halfpipe finals
Both Sildaru siblings, Kelly and Henry, have made the halfpipe finals at the last FIS freestyle skiing World Cup event in Silvaplana, Switzerland.
Henry, 19, who took silver in the same discipline at last month's Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, scored 81 points on his first run, placing fourth and securing his spot in the final without needing a second run. No competitor surpassed him in the second outing, though Finland's Jon Sallinen (88.50), American Matthew Labaugh (86.50) and New Zealander Luke Harrold (85.25) posted higher qualification scores than the Estonian.
Kelly, 24, was out of the medals in Italy in a sport currently dominated by Eileen Gu of China, though Sildaru took bronze at the previous Winter Games in Beijing.
In Switzerland on Tuesday, however, the older Sildaru sibling scored 80.25 points on her first run, placing her fifth. She was unable to improve on this score and one other competitor moved ahead of her after the second run, but Sildaru still made the final.
Seventeen-year-old Grete-Mia Meentalo, the only other Estonian competing, finished ninth out of the 14 entrants with a score of 68.25 points after round one, dropping to 11th after she was unable to improve on that in round two, meaning she will not be in the final.
The top performer in qualification was Briton Zoe Atkin, a bronze medalist from the Milano Cortina Games, who posted an impressive 94.75 points on her second run. She was followed by Australia's Indra Brown (89.75), Amy Fraser (Canada, 89.00), Mischa Thomas (New Zealand, 86.75), and Aleksandra Glazkova (81.25 points, neutral flag).
The finals take place on Sunday.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste
