There were mixed emotions for freeski halfpipe competitors Janina Kuzma and Britt Hawes after missing the top-12 cut off for their finals competition today, finishing16th and 21st respectively.
“My expectations were set really high today,” says Janina.
“I really wanted to make the final. It’s disappointing when I don’t make finals because I’m a very competitive person.”
Janina’s competition was impacted by a crash during training which caused discomfort in her knee.
“I was not very confident out there today. I had a crash on my third training run and I had to pull out of the rest of training and re-assess what was going with my knee. Our medical team came and checked it and I had a break before the comp and decided it was good to go.
“Coming back from that mentally was good and I’m so thankful I could down one kind of clean run. I just had to do what I could do with a sore knee.”
Britt Hawes felt some nerves about making her Olympic debut but was able to land her runs.
“On the first run I was nervous but I was just trying to take it all in and enjoy the experience.
“That run was the best I’ve landed under competition pressure. I can’t be disappointed with that.”