Two flagbearers rattle nerves with last-run drama during women's slopestyle competitions at Gangwon 2024
Italy’s freeskier Flora Tabanelli and New Zealand’s snowboarder Lucia Georgalli waited until their final runs to make a mark on the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) competition and claim medals in Gangwon, while Han Linshan followed in Eileen Gu’s footsteps.
Tensions ran high in the women's snowboard and freestyle skiing slopestyle events at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) on Wednesday (24 January) as the destinies of two flagbearers, Flora Tabanelli and Lucia Georgalli, came down to their final scores.
In freestyle skiing, one of Italy’s big hopes for the home Winter Olympic Games at Milano Cortina 2026, Tabanelli was trying to claw her way back from a crash in the first run.
On the snowboard side, the junior world champion from New Zealand, Georgalli, sat at the bottom of a 10-women final after two lacklustre runs that earned her a best score of 22.00.
As the sun went down and the stakes got higher, both proved that they thrive under the extra pressure. Tabanelli claimed freeski gold. Georgalli picked up snowboard silver behind Hanna Karrer of Austria.
Freeski - Flora Tabanelli: From bottom place to gold medal
After an early crash, Tabanelli fought her way back into a medal position in the second run of the women's freestyle ski slopestyle competition, and was sitting in third place as the last skier to go down the course at Welli Hilli Park Ski Resort.
Just minutes before, Han Linshan from People's Republic of China earned 81.50 points to take the lead.
Undaunted, Tabanelli dropped in last and delivered the best-scoring run of the day, 90.50, to claim the gold.
**“**I love the pressure,” she told Olympics.com after the competition. “I told myself that I could do it, that I had the tricks I wanted to do and I went with confidence and I did it.”
Even after sliding into silver medal position, Han was overwhelmed with the result. Known as a Big Air specialist, the 17-year-old was delighted to see 81.50 pop up as her third score.
“The score I got was just unthinkable to me,” Han said. “After I completed that run, I thought it would be decent, but I didn’t think it would be that high. I didn’t think I had secured a medal, because I know what the skiers behind me are capable of. I did wonder if a medal would be mine.”
Han’s result brought back memories of four years ago where compatriot Eileen Gu also took silver at Lausanne 2020, later going on to win three medals including two golds at Beijing 2022. The two skiers have met, and Han says she draws inspiration from the Olympic champion.
Junior world champion Muriel Mohr of Germany took the bronze in the slopestyle event thanks to her solid first run of 78.75.
“[It gave me] a lot of confidence, so I was happy about it,” Mohr said about her first run. “But I knew that Flora could win gold, for sure. She's so great.”
Snowboard - Lucia Georgalli: One run to make it count as Karrer turns off the music
While Tabanelli was at least within podium contention ahead of her last run, for Georgalli the third run in the women's snowboard slopestyle was even more nerve-wracking.
She scored 19.75 on her first attempt and then tried to amend for that with an ambitious backflip off a pipe on the second run only to slide into the fence.
None of those nerves showed in her third run, however, as Georgalli blazed to 88.25 points, just behind Austria’s Hanna Karrer.
“Going into the third run, I was very nervous, but I was like, what happens, happens,” a relieved Georgalli told Olympics.com, the New Zealand flag and the silver medal around her neck. “I had no idea what I was going to score. I actually hadn't seen anyone else's runs. I was just happy that I landed the run.”
Karrer trailed Georgalli in the qualifiers. Unhappy with the result, she decided to turn off the music she was listening to in the morning and focus only on her runs during the final.
The silence worked its magic as the Austrian rider went into the course with renewed focus and landed a new trick for the first time in competition to earn the gold.
“My back nine stomp,” Karrer said of the day's highlight. “It was my first one because I had done it just two times in training. I'm very proud of this one.”
While Karrer found her strength in silence, Czechia’s Vanessa Volopichova did just the opposite.
A pianist since she was six years old, Volopichova put on her playlist – a mix of rock, hip hop and pop - to calm the nerves as she rode to bronze.
“I was pretty scared, to be honest, but the second run felt great," she said. "I was more confident than I was before, so I feel great."
The men's slopestyle competitions take place on Thursday (25 January).
How to watch snowboard at Gangwon 2024 Youth Olympic Games
Action from all 13 competition days at Gangwon 2024, including every competition taking place at the Welli Hilli Park Ski Resort, will be streamed on dedicated feeds on Olympics.com and on the official Olympics app for mobile devices.
You can also watch full replays on demand on Olympics.com and catch highlights, reaction interview clips, news articles, and full results sections across the website and official Olympics social media accounts.
