Estonian skier bests Norwegian freestyle star Birk Ruud in Switzerland qualifiers
Estonian freestyle ski star Henry Sildaru was first in Wednesday's slopestyle qualification at the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup stop in Silvaplana, Switzerland, outstripping Norwegian star Birk Ruud.
Sildaru, 19, took silver in the halfpipe at last month's Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, but did not qualify for the medals in the slopestyle event.
In the first run, he placed fourth in the slopestyle qualification with 66.54 points for his first run in the park, which put him in fifth place. On his second run he boosted that to 86.03 points, which none of his competitors could come close to. Tormod Frostad, another Norwegian, was second with 78.27 points, while local favorite Andri Ragettli placed third with 75.62 points.
Ruud, who took gold in the slopestyle in Milano Cortina, topped his heat with 84.97 points, over a point behind the Estonian.
The slopestyle final takes place in Silvaplana on Saturday.
Sildaru has also made the weekend's finals in the halfpipe, the discipline he took olympic silver in; his older sister Kelly, a freestyle ski star for well over a decade now, has made the women's final of that event too.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Anders Nõmm
