Kiwi Cam Melville Ives has advanced to the snowboard halfpipe final at his first Olympics after a strong showing in his opening run at Livigno Snow Park.
Melville Ives impressed with an 84.75, including the first triple cork of the night, but couldn’t improve on that score after he failedto stick the landing on a jump early in his second run. Despite that, his opening run score was enough to finish eighth and make the 12-man final on Saturday.
“Pretty hyped. Put a run down, all in a day’s work. Pretty sweet vibe out there right now,” the 19-year-old told Sky Sports.
“It’s definitely a super high-level qualification. No one wants to miss out on the finals, everyone’s getting after it for sure.”
Australian Scott James, the reigning world champion, finished as the top qualifier with a score of 94.00 on his opening run as he looks to improve on his silver medal four years ago.
Japanese duo Yuto Totsuka (91.25) and Ryusei Yamada (90.25) also cracked the 90-mark in a high-level qualifying session. American teen Alessandro Barbieri was another who set the tone early with an 88.50, which was good enough for fourth.
Defending Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano could manage only seventh, but is returning from breaking his hip just a month ago. He is among four Japanese riders to make the final, along with three Americans after Chase Josey and Jake Peat took the final two spots.
Jan Scherrer, the 2022 bronze medallist, failed to start the event.
