The Porteous brothers, Nico and Miguel, have both qualified for the final of the men’s freeski halfpipe in the Beijing Olympics.
New Zealand’s Nico Porteous practices before the start of the freestyle skiing men’s freeski halfpipe qualification run during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on February 17, 2022. Photo: AFP / Marco Bertorello
Nico Porteous, who won bronze in the 2018 Games as a 16-year-old, nailed his second jump to score 90.50 and place second overall.
His older brother, Miguel Porteous, had a brilliant first run to come ninth with a score of 81.00.
However, fellow New Zealanders Gustav Legnavsky and Ben Harrington failed to join them in Saturday’s final.
Harrington was particularly unlucky, finishing 13th. Despite having a good first run, he crashed on his second attempt. Legnavsky was 19th.
The qualifying was lead by American Aaron Blunck with a score of 92.00 on his second run.
Finland’s Jon Sallinen sent a camera operator flying during his first run after misjudging one of his tricks. Neither Sallinen nor the cameraman were injured.
Neither Chloe McMillan nor Anja Barugh qualified for the final of the women’s halfpipe on Thursday.
They finished the qualifying rounds in 18th and 19th place respectively, with the top 12 advancing to the final.
New Zealand’s Miguel Porteous competes in the freestyle skiing men’s freeski halfpipe qualification run during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games on February 17, 2022. Photo: AFP / Ben Stansall