Freestyle-World champion Melville Ives crashes out of halfpipe qualifiers

LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 20 : New Zealand's Fin Melville Ives crashed badly during Friday's Winter Olympics men's freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifiers, ruling out one of the top medal hopefuls.

The 19-year-old current halfpipe world champion fell on both qualification runs, but more seriously on the second.

Medics intervened immediately, while spectators fell silent for several tense minutes before he was stretchered away.

Team New Zealand said Melville Ives took a "heavy knock" but was conscious and would be assessed and X-rayed. "Everything stable and positive. Talking to his mum who is with him."

Melville Ives came to his first Olympics in Livigno after winning the world championship on his first attempt in 2025 and fresh from a superpipe gold at the X Games last month.

The freeski halfpipe final is due to take place at 1830 GMT, with Americans Alex Ferreira, Nick Goepper and Hunter Hess and Canada's Brendan Mackay among top contenders.

New Zealand will be represented by Ben Harrington, who dedicated his own qualification to his unlucky teammate.

"If you’re listening, that one was for you brother, putting you and New Zealand on my back.”