Under snowy skies, American Blunck leads freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifiers

ZHANGJIAKOU: Undeterred by snowy weather American Aaron Blunck led the men's freestyle skiing halfpipe qualifiers at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Thursday (Feb 17), followed by New Zealand's Nico Porteous, who won bronze at Pyeongchang four years ago.

Blunck, 25, roared back from his uneven first run to score 92 and bolted to first place, while Porteous, 20, nabbed the second-highest score of 90.50 after soaring high above the halfpipe to make four and a half rotations in the air.

"That was better," Porteous could be heard saying after the run. His older brother, 22-year old Miguel, also advanced to the final in ninth place.

Veteran David Wise, who won gold in the halfpipie at both the Pyeongchang and Sochi Games, scored 89 in a confident return to the Olympics, assuring him a spot in the final.

The stands at the venue were less than half full with fans in matching yellow rain coats and red scarves, with many supporters packing up after seeing Eileen Gu lead the women's halfpipe qualifiers earlier in the day.

First-time Olympian Brendan Mackay of Canada said many of the skiers were struggling with "Olympic nerves".

"I was really nervous as I haven't competed for a while ... I've some nerves, Olympic nerves," said Mackay, who came in at fifth place.

Skiers soared over a giant halfpipe at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, where snow began to fall on the skiers as they got ready to drop into the halfpipe.

A number of skiers crashed and wiped out, but athletes blamed nerves, not the weather.

"I don't really think it has to do with the course conditions," Blunck, the American leading the qualifiers said.

"Each one of us pushed ourselves as hard as possible. Sometimes it's just jitters," he said.

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