Winter Olympics 2022 - Team GB medal hope Katie Ormerod fails to qualify for slopestyle final, big air still to come

Katie Ormerod has failed to qualify for the slopestyle final as her best score of 47.38 was not enough to get into the top 12, however she was delighted to finally make her Olympics bow.

The 24-year-old goofy footer from Yorkshire was making her first appearance at a Winter Olympics; four years on from breaking both her heels in training at PyeongChang.

Ormerod finished 19th overall. New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski-Synnott finished top of qualifying with a second run score of 86.75. Japanese 17-year-old Kokomo Murase came a close second with 81.45.

"It feels amazing to be able to call myself an Olympian. I've been waiting years to finally say that, and to drop in and compete at an Olympics, it feels really special," Ormerod told the BBC.

"I'm really happy with my runs today. It's been a really challenging and difficult course to master, so just to be able to put a full run down and it's exactly how I wanted it as well, so I couldn't be any happier with my riding.

"The snow is definitely a lot more challenging than real snow, because of just how firm it is. I made it work today so I'm really proud."

Ormerod got off to a slightly disappointing start with her first run.

She started with a backside 270 out before producing a leftside 360 outside 3 out of the rail into the twisted sisters. She then produced a nice grab on the frontside 3 followed by a well-executed backflip.

But on the bottom jump, she made a slight mistake as she overcooked her cork on the backside 7, dropping a hand low on her final jump landing, which resulted in a score of 47.38.

Despite the slightly underwhelming score, she was still smiling afterwards.

Ormerod was in the final qualifying spot after the first run. Japan's Kokomo Murase led the way (74.95) ahead of two-time champion Jamie Anderson (74.35).

Into the second run and she started again with a backside 270. She then stumbled going into the rail but recovered well before an impressive 360 spin off the cannon.

Off the twisted sisters she produced a frontside 3, getting a grab in. She was generally carrying way more speed than the first run and into the second to last feature she produced another clean backflip.

She just held her landing with an inverted spin, but missed a little rotation on the final jump and had to settle for a score of 44.01.

Hailey Langland was next and she improved on her opening run with a score of 68.71 that propelled the American up the leaderboard. As a result, Ormerod's fate was sealed as she dropped down to 13th.

Ormerod's Olympics is not over. She will next compete in big air qualifying on February 14.

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