By Mitch Phillips
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – The team representing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), the reigning world champions, failed to advance to the medal final of the inaugural Olympic mixed teams aerials freestyle skiing event on Thursday.
Only six nations were taking part, with the top four from the first final advancing. China, the United States, Canada and Switzerland will battle it out for the medals later on Thursday, with Russia and Belarus missing the cut.
Multiple World Cup and world championship winner Maxim Burov was a notable absentee from the ROC team, though his brother Ilia was on duty, alongside siblings Liubov Nikitina and Stanislav Nikitina.
Belarussian Hanna Huskova, the individual champion in 2018, had the honour of being the first to take to the air in the new Olympic event, but it was American Ashley Caldwell who claimed the opening round’s highest score of 104.31.
Switzerland’s Pirmin Werner attempted and nailed the most difficult jump of the first final, a degree of difficulty of five and a huge score of 128.
Although mixed team events are becoming more prevalent across Summer and Winter Games, the aerials’ USP is that teams consist of three athletes with a minimum of one of each sex – so teams can choose two men or two women.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
