Flying Kiwi
Snowboarder soars into Olympic final
Star New Zealand snowboarder Carlos Garcia Knight reckons he has learned well and is confident he won’t be swayed by jitters as he chases Winter Olympic history in PyeongChang on Saturday night.
The Christchurch 20-year-old admits he let the occasion get the better of him in the slopestyle event early in the Games when he had given himself a chance for a medal, and finished fifth. He knows better now.
His sensational 97.5 leap in his second attempt in the Big Air qualifying yesterday was the top mark overall of the 34 competitors and he will start the 12-man final as the last to run, the ideal position as he’ll know exactly what he needs to do.
“It’s definitely a big thing, but I learned from the slopestyle competition,” Garcia Knight said of the psychological demands last night from PyeongChang.
“[It played with] my head a little bit, with being so close. I learned from that experience and I’m ready to go now. It’s fresh in
my mind and in the final I’ll think about the snow and my performance, not anything else.”
Garcia Knight managed an 88.75 with his first attempt. The top six from each group would progress and he knew he was on the bubble of sneaking in. He needed to produce better.
His routine involved 41⁄ full 2 spins but it was a touch messy. He was always committed to repeating the routine for his second attempt, and simply polishing it up.
He did that with bells on, it worked a treat with the judges and was left with the best score he’s ever achieved. Talk about picking the right time to strike.
“It is a really good trick for me, one of the most difficult in qualification. It was just a matter of doing it well, with a style I like and making it feel good.
“I was surprised they scored it that high, I didn’t realise they loved it that much. Blown away,” he said with a laugh.
From the time he landed there was no doubt Garcia Knight would walk into the top 12 final.
But as the other athletes came and fell short, Knight’s stocks soared and now he has a royal chance of claiming just the second Winter Olympic medal for New Zealand, after slalom skier Annelise Coberger’s celebrated silver at Albertville, France in 1992.
Meanwhile, ski cross competitor Jamie Prebble bowed out in his quarter-final.
Prebble, who won silver at last year’s world championships in Spain, had placed 25th in the seeding round clocking 1min 10.48s, 1.74s behind the fastest qualifier, Alex Fiva of Switzerland.
He had to finish in the top two of his four-man eliminator and was third.
I’m ready to go now. It’s fresh in my mind and in the final I’ll think about the snow and my performance, not anything else. Carlos Garcia Knight