Crashes spell end to medal for Carlos
Kiwi snowboarder Carlos Garcia Knight couldn’t land it when he needed to in the men’s big air finals at the Winter Olympics.
The 20-year-old Cantabrian topped the field in the qualifying round, but couldn’t back up his mammoth effort and finished 11th of 12 finalists.
Garcia Knight rued two poor landings when trying to put down his signature switch backside 1620, which put him out of medal contention with one run remaining.
A disappointed Garcia Knight said the pressure had got to him in PyeongChang.
‘‘It’s been a tough day. I feel like I was running well in training. . . there was a lot going on, you know. I hadn’t done the frontside triple 14 many times which has taken a lot of energy,’’ he told Sky TV.
‘‘It just come down to snowboarding. I had to challenge the conditions with speed and stuff and the light and I guess it just come down to how I rode.
‘‘I’m not super excited with how it all went but I am proud of this Winter Olympics, it’s been huge.’’
The switch backside 1620 gained him an outstanding score of 97.5 in qualifying and ranked him top for the finals.
Garcia Knight said he wouldn’t forget the experience of the Winter Olympics in a hurry and would be back for the next one for his shot at a medal.
‘‘To come here and do well in qualifications and not do well in finals, I’m so excited for the next one already. You know I would have thought after the Olympics I would be burnt out and over it but it’s the opposite so that’s pretty exciting.’’
On his first two runs in the final Garcia Knight couldn’t stay upright on landing, for scores of 39.25 and 44.
At his final run, knowing he was out of contention, Garcia Knight went through the motions for a score of 54.25.
However, he remained upbeat. ‘‘Everyone back home has been sending me so much love and to hear that alone is worth it enough. To have everyone back home excited is awesome. I can’t even express it enough.’’
Canada’s Sebastien Toutant won the gold medal with a combined score of 174.25, ahead of Kyle Mack (United States) on 168.75 and Briton Billy Morgan taking bronze with 168.
New Zealand 16-year-olds Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (big air) and Nico Porteous (ski halfpipe) both won bronze medals on Thursday to break the country’s 26-year medal drought at the Winter Games.