Olympics Women’s aerials qualifying results, highlights and more

Two rounds of qualifying winnowed down the field to the final dozen in women’s aerials. Here is how the qualifying rounds played out at Phoenix Park.

The ladies took to the sky at Phoenix Park for the next big freestyle skiing event. Aerials showcase a series of twists and flips comparable to the 10-meter platform dive in the Summer Olympics. On Thursday in South Korea, 25 women took to the ramp in Pyeongchang with hopes of making the cut into the final dozen.

Two rounds of qualifying commenced. All 25 women jumped in the first round, and the top six scores advanced directly to the final. On the second jump, the remaining 19 women got a second chance to qualify. From this jump, another six women moved on to contest the finals.

Alexandra Orlova pulled off the top jump of the opening round, landing a Back Lay-Full-Full for a score of 102.22. Only one other woman, Hanna Huskova of Belarus, would hit a score over 100 points. Huskova cleanly landed a Back Lay-Tuck-Full, a slightly less difficult variant on Orlova’s trick, to move on to the final.

Also joining Orlova and Huskova out of the first round was Xu Mengtao, the Chinese star who took silver in Sochi four years ago. Another Russian athlete competing under the Olympic flag, Kristina Spiridonova, qualified as well. So too did Australia’s Danielle Scott and China’s Zhang Xin.

For the rest, a second jump offered a second chance.

19 women lined up for a second jump after the first round of qualifying was complete. Among those getting a second chance was defending Olympic gold medalist Alla Tsuper of Belarus. After a disappointing first jump, Tsuper led the second round of qualifying with a Back Full-Tuck-Full. With the jump, Tsuper stayed alive to defend her gold from Sochi.

Kong Fanyu gave China a third athlete in the final after coming in just behind Tsuper. Laura Peel qualified from Australia, and Liubov Nikitina accompanied compatriots Orlova and Spiridonova into the finals.

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The last two spots in the final round were claimed by two Americans. Kiley McKinnon and Madison Olsen hit identical 87.88 scores on their respective second jumps to edge out Zhanbota Aldabergenova of Kazakhstan.

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