FIS Junior World Champs 2021 hosted a qualifications in freestyle slopestyle
In fact, the four finalists among women were already determined after the first try. In the second run, the leaders Yura Murase (Japan), Bianca Gisler (Switzerland), Shihiro Edamatsu (Japan) and Evy Poppe (Belgium) allowed themselves to relax and experiment. They did not improve their results, but in exactly this sequence they took four places in the qualification.
However, the fight for the last four places in the final was still ahead. Russian athletes did not stay on the sidelines as well. As a result, Yaroslava Kudryashova managed to catch up with the leaders and in the fight for the fifth place passed Thelma Sarkipay from Finland. Varvara Romanova came the seventh. Tianina Antyasova was just a little short of the eight and she got 9th place. Maria Smirnova took the 12th place.
This is not the first time Yaroslava Kudryashova has performed on the Krasnoyarsk slopes: “Before, when I came to Krasnoyarsk, it was always cold. This time we were very lucky with the weather – it is warm and sunny enough, and the wind is not so strong. Nothing prevents you from competing. All the athletes here are strong. But I’m happy for this, there is an opportunity to gain experience. My second try today was definitely better than the first. Well, I made it to the final, and then we’ll see what happens. “
Lena Mueller from Switzerland made it to the final from eighth place: “I feel wonderful! I am happy that I came here. There are such cool courses here, it’s just nice to run. And the athletes… I want to wish them a wonderful time. Yes, we are competing with each other, but we are all friends here, and it’s just nice to be able to spend time with them. Thanks also to the organizers. They are always ready to help and are very kind to us. I feel that I am very welcome here. It feels good. “
12 finalists were determined – 6 from each group. It was assumed that a score of 80 points would be a pass to the finals.
In the first group five athletes managed to get to the final after the first race: Jan Matteoli (Italy), Aoto Kawakami, Taiga Hasegawa (both from Japan), Pter Ershov (Russia) and Jakub Hrones (Czech Republic). All the rest, neither in the first nor in the second try, did not reach 80 points.
And the last ticket to the final from this group was taken by Niklas Huber from Germany, who scored exactly 76 points in his best run: “I am very proud of my race! There were difficult weather conditions, the sun had already gone and the snow on the course changed, the wind was up. Fortunately, somehow I did it – made it to the final! I’m just glad that I run my program and got the maximum pleasure from the race. “
The bar for reaching the final was raised even higher in the second qualifying group and 80 points would not have been enough. There were five Russians in this group at once. And two of them made it to the final. Igor Tarakanov in the first try received 87.50 points, and Nikita Abozovik – 87.75. A great jump by Sam Vermaat received 94.25 points and made him the winner of the entire qualification. Moritz Breu (Germany) and Rikuto Watanabe (Japan) exceeded 90 points in this group. But the jumps of Abozovik and Tarakanov also turned out to be very worthy.
Igor Tarakanov was pleased with his performance: “I’m very glad that I did my tricks. I wanted to improve the first try – I decided that it would be a worthy improvement to fly as far as possible. But I could not cope with the strong compression on the landing. Everything is fixable … As for my expectations for the final – Fight for the medal! Hopefully I can do my own tricks as well as in the first try. I consider myself the most important rival, my experiences, emotions. They need to be left out of the course, and then everything will work out.”
The last finalist from this group was Ozbe Kuhar (Slovenia) with a score of 86.00 points. Three more Russians – Alexander Belsner, Daniil Stepanov and Nikolai Markov – took 8th, 11th and 12th places in the group, respectively.
The “big jumps” continue. The big air medals will be awarded tomorrow, on March 21st, in the day program of the FIS Junior World Champs 2021. The great fight on the slopes of Sopka Cluster is ahead. The competition schedule is published on the ensib.ru website. The tickets for the FIS Junior World Champs 2021 can be purchased at krs.kassir.ru on the events page.
