Gus Kenworthy “relieved" to be through to men’s freeski halfpipe finals at Beijing 2022
“Finals is a new day” said the Sochi 2014 freeski silver medallist after surviving a fall during the qualifying round at Beijing 2022.
Freestyle Skiing
Gus Kenworthy is through to the final of the men’s freeski halfpipe at Beijing 2022 after an eventful qualifier.
The 2014 Olympic silver medallist began his last Winter Olympics with a fall in his first run as qualifiers were hampered by reduced visibility.
Kenworthy, who’s now representing Great Britain after his last two Olympics as an American, managed to come back strongly in the second run to book a spot in the final.
It was an anxious wait for that final slot.
Lying in 12th, the last qualifying spot, he had to watch the rest of the riders go through their runs at the Secret Garden pipe in Zhangjiakou with the snow getting heavier.
“Stressful, certainly not how I planned to qualify. I had a different run plan for the first run. I fell and hit my head and watched the other few runs and thought I could make it through with a more conservative approach,” he told Olympics.com after qualifying.
“I was pretty stressed but relieved to be through. Finals is a new day!”
Road to the finals
Going into his third and last Winter Olympics, Kenworthy had hoped for a smoother qualification.
But the intense snowfall that greatly reduced visibility, made the conditions hard for the skiers.
Kenworthy fell on his first run, as did a few of the 23 skiers who were unable to finish their first runs.
There were several nervous moments like when Finnish athlete Jon Sallinen's skis collided with a cameraman, but luckily both were not injured and carried on with their duties.
New Zealand’s Ben Harrington also crashed hard-hitting the top of a halfpipe wall.
After the first fall, the Briton, one of few skiers to have competed across both slopestyle and halfpipe freeski events, thought his competition day jitters had caught up with him.
“I started at the top in one of them talking to myself ‘this could be your last Olympic run, smile at the bottom no matter what happens…all that stuff,’ and then I was like ‘no that’s not the reality… you are going to make it to the finals, get out of your head and stop thinking that’.
"I just kind of got hungry for it, put it down when I needed to. It wasn’t quite the run I was hoping for but enough to get through.”
The 30-year-old stomped a 70.75 in his second run which was enough to get him through to the final of the freeski halfpipe finals that takes place on Saturday, 19 February at 9:30 local time (1:30 GMT)
His former teammate Aaron Blunck qualified first on 92 ahead of New Zealand’s Nico Porteous (90.50) and Birk Irving also of Team USA in third (89.75).
“I did the second run it may have been a little too conservative, may have been a bubble in there but I didn’t want to be squeaking through in the bubble position watching the whole field take their run and there are so many talented guys and quite a few of them weren’t through to the final yet.”
Kenworthy on his final Olympics representing 'motherland'
After taking silver at Sochi 2014 in men’s slopestyle, Kenworthy finished 12th in PyeongChang.
In 2020 he decided to switch to join Team GB, hoping for an easier qualification path to Beijing 2022.
But that path was far from easy.
In summer 2020, he suffered a concussion while training and shortly afterwards picked an injury on his knee that needed surgery.
He again had another concussion in October 2021 and was also hit hard by Covid. His recovery path was far from smooth as he struggled with dizziness and migraines.
He then qualified for the Olympics following some decent runs that included a World Cup win in Calgary during the 2021/2022 season.
It’s the first time he is skiing the halfpipe at the Olympics and qualifying for Beijing 2022 feels like one of the biggest achievements in his career.
“For sure Olympics are so difficult to get to and to do it, Olympic cycle after Olympic cycle, after Olympic cycle, is even more difficult… It takes a lot of resilience and determination, and it feels like I have had so many injuries and setbacks especially in the last two years,” he said.
“I am also getting a little older so it’s kind of like to get through all of that and push and get deep, make it here and put a run down and make it through to the finals feels incredible and I am just excited to do more in the final.”
Kenworthy who was born in Chelmsford, Essex, to an English mother, and an American dad. He opted to compete for his birth country in 2020 due to an easier qualification path with Team GB.
He’s delighted for the chance to finally race down as a Briton.
“It feels incredible. I felt so, so supported by everyone at GB Snowsports and we’ve got an awesome team here, a lot of great athletes that I have been rooting for and gotten to meet.
“I feel pretty honoured to get to do my last Olympics for the UK and representing my mum and that side of my family, it’s the homeland the motherland.”