Winter Park skier in 23rd with one more chance to make Olympic moguls final
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Australian Olympic Team/Courtesy photo
The men’s mogul skiers took to the course in Lavigno, Italy on Tuesday morning, vying for the coveted 20 spots in the finals on Feb. 12. Australian skier Jackson Harvey, who grew up in Winter Park, placed 23rd out of 30, with a score of 69.26.
Harvey will have one more chance to make the finals by placing in the top ten in the second round of qualifiers on Thursday. The top 20 skiers will then compete that same day in three final rounds to determine the medalists.
How did the Americans do?
American skiers split the bill in the first round with two making the final automatically by finishing in the top 10, and two looking from the outside in — with one more shot on Thursday.
Nick Page of Park City landed in fifth, the same finish he made in Beijing, with a score of 77.50. It looks like prior Olympic experience helped Breckenridge skier Dylan Walczyk, who took seventh with a score of 76.67. Walczyk ended in 16th at 2022 Olympics.
Charlie Mickel of Durango just missed the cut in 11th with a score of 75.31. Right behind him was Landon Wendler of Park City in 12th with a 75.08
Gold medal favorite Ikuma Horishima dominated the first round with a 85.42, more than five full points ahead of the Canadians, rookie Julien Viel and veteran Mikael Kingsbury in second and third. Kingsbury was the 2018 gold medalist in Sochi, Russia and the silver medalist in 2014 and 2022.
The second round of qualifiers begins at 2 a.m. Mountain time on Feb. 12. The finals start at 4:15 a.m.
How do the finals work?
The top ten skiers of round two qualifiers will move on to the final, leaving 20 skiers to compete for the podium. The moguls final consists of three rounds, and skiers are eliminated at the end of each round. All participating skiers take one run per round, and scores do not carry over between any of the rounds.
In round one, the field is trimmed from 20 skiers down to 12. In round two, the field is cut even further from 12 skiers down to six. The final-six skiers participate in round three, and the scores from that round determine the final medal results.
