2018 Winter Olympics: Kiwi snowboarder Carlos Garcia-Knight into final

Carlos Garcia Knight. Photo / Getty

Snowboarder Carlos Garcia Knight has emerged as New Zealand's first hope of a medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Garcia Knight has qualified for tomorrow's slopestyle final thanks to a clinical first run during his heat – qualifying as the second best performer from his heat and sixth best overall.

Garcia Knight posted an impressive score of 80.10 in his first run of the first heat, before recording a 40.20 in his second effort. Setting off in sixth out of 17 riders, the 21-year-old then had to wait to ensure he wouldn't be overhauled, qualifying behind only 18-year-old Norwegian phenom Marcus Kleveland from his heat.

Four riders surpassed Garcia Knight's score in the second heat at the Bokwang Snow Park course, making him the sixth-best overall qualifier going into this afternoon's final. The delightfully named Max Parrot was the top overall qualifier, with the Canadian producing a sublime score of 87.36.

For Garcia Knight to shine, he'll have to produce something from his bag of tricks, which he did today. His best section of the six-section course saw him score a 9.05 out of 10 on his jump on the fifth section when he landed a backside 1260 tail grab (three-and-a-half spins with a clockwise rotation).

"What makes it unique is the tail grab. It's quite hard. You have to reach outside your back foot and you're completely blind on the last spin," Garcia Knight told NZ Newswire.

"I learnt it in New Zealand and got a good feel for it in Aspen just before I came here.
"It's super rewarding to put it down on a good slopestyle run."

He failed to land on the fifth section of his second run and was scored 40.20 but maintained his position as other riders faltered.

After countryman Tiarn Collins was ruled out of the event through injury, Garcia Knight stepped up, overcoming his poor recent World Cup results to reach the final 12.

He won bronze at his home World Cup event in Cardrona in September but struggled in more recent events in the United States.

Now, he's dreaming of winning New Zealand's second ever Winter Olympic medal, with the final consisting of three runs, starting at 2.00pm.

"I'm not going to come here and not think about a medal," he said.

"In snowboarding, we have to battle it out with our own tricks. It makes it a bit tougher to call where we'll be.

"It's not like traditional sports where you go in and the favourite wins every time. It's really exciting to watch, we've got a good plan. I couldn't be more excited for it."

The women's snowboard slopestyle qualifying gets underway tomorrow, with Zoi Sadowski Synnott in action for New Zealand, while speed skater Peter Michael is an outside chance for a medal, being installed as eighth favourite for the 5000m final.

Sunday's schedule
Men's snowboard slopestyle finals, from 2pm (Carlos Garcia Knight)
Women's snowboard slopestyle qualification, from 5.30pm (Zoi Sadowski Synnott)
Men's 5000m speed skating final, from 8pm (Peter Michael)

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