A Rich reward out of reach
AN unplanned lead-up ended with an unfortunate finish for Australian snowboarder Jess Rich, who missed out by one spot on qualifying for the finals of the big air at the Winter Olympics.
Rich, who tore her ACL just a month ago, did well to get to the starting gate in PyeongChang.
She was ninth and in a position to make the top 12 after her first run yesterday but some of the big names who’d initially failed overtook her to reach the decider.
Her second run with a cleaner 720 only marginally improved her score from 73.5 points to 74.25 and left her just out of finals action.
Rich later revealed the litany of other injuries she’d encountered in the lead-up to the Games, saying there were occasions in the past 18 months that she thought she wouldn’t reach South Korea.
“I’ve had a broken back, I’ve broken my collarbone twice, and now I’ve blown my knee. Every one of those times I was unsure I was going to be able to keep competing,” she said.
The setback with her knee ruled her out of slopestyle competition earlier in the Games – something that was perhaps a blessing given the brutal winds on the course that subsequently played a part in teammate Tess Coady tearing ligaments in her ACL.
Rich’s pre-Games routine consisted not of snow time but gym work and icing sessions.
And even then she was lucky to be ready to compete.
“I went to a few different specialists and although there was a significant risk they all said: ‘It is the Olympics so it’s the one thing you can risk,’ ” she said.
Next stop is knee surgery and some significant time out of the sport for Rich, who says she’s keen for another Games tilt in four years.
Anna Gasser (98) from Austria and Japanese pair Yuka Fujimori (94.25) and Reira Iwabuchi (92.75) had the top three qualifying scores for Friday’s final.
AERIAL skier David Morris has revealed the struggle he faced coming to grips with his mother’s cancer battle less than two months out from the Winter Olympics.
Morris, who controversially finished 10th, just one spot out of the final’s second jump on Sunday night, had to make a tough decision in December on whether to go to his third Games.