Japan's Sara Shimizu take the respective top spots in the women's snowboard halfpipe qualification round on Wednesday. [Photo/Xinhua]
The snowboard halfpipe qualification round on Wednesday at the Yabuli Ski Resort saw Japan's Sara Shimizu and the Republic of Korea's Kim Geonhui taking the top spots in the women's and men's events respectively.
In the women's event, of the 10 participants, five are ranked in the FIS top 10, but 15-year-old Shimizu dominated with a score of 98.00 points.
Shimizu is the youngest competitor in the event, but showed remarkable skill and maturity to earn the highest score in the second run. The fearless teen, who won silver at last year's Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, Republic of Korea, was the only athlete to attempt the challenging backside 900 rotation.
Sena Tomita who won women's halfpipe bronze at the Beijing Winter Olympics finished second at the qualification round with a score of 93.75 points.
"The Chinese athletes are our strongest competitors. We all know each other well, because we often compete together at international events," Tomita said.
China's Wu Shaotong, Cai Xuetong, Liu Yibo and Yang Lu all qualified for the finals, with Harbin native Wu in third place with a score of 86.50 points.
Cai also feels at home on the course at Yabuli.
"The course is all too familiar to me, because I've been training on it since I first started competing in the halfpipe. The place where I keep warm during training is still here," Cai said. "It's good to be back."
Cai made her Winter Olympics debut in Vancouver, Canada, in 2010 in the women's halfpipe event as the youngest athlete in the competition. She has continued to improve over the years, securing halfpipe gold at the FIS Snowboard World Championships in Kreischberg, Austria, in 2015, in Sierra Nevada in the US in 2017 and Bakuriani, Georgia, in 2023.
It was a bad day for Japan's Kudo Rise, gold medalist at last year's Winter Youth Olympics. She failed to make the finals following two error-filled runs.
ROK's Kim Geon-hui take the respective top spots in the men's snowboard halfpipe qualification round on Wednesday. [Photo/Xinhua]
Wind at the halfpipe venue started to pick up at noon, following the women's event, greatly affecting the performances of athletes competing in the men's snowboard halfpipe qualification round. So disruptive was the wind, that many decided to lower the difficulty of their runs during the second round.
Wang Ziyang, China's top medal hope, struggled on both runs, sustaining a serious injury on his second.
The 21-year-old landed on the edge of the halfpipe so hard that he chipped it after attempting a frontside 1260. He got back up, but struggled to make it to the bottom of the halfpipe, where he fell on his back, unable to move. He was quickly treated by paramedics at the scene, before being taken to hospital for treatment.
Gu Ao, Wang's teammate, said Wang had sustained a knee injury. "The wind has indeed created problems for the snowboarders. It keeps pushing us to one side of the halfpipe and had made it difficult to complete the tricks."
On Wednesday afternoon, Wang, who went viral online after executing a breathtaking triple front flip in the men's snowboard knuckle huck at the 2025 X Games in Aspen, Colorado, in January, said on social media: "It's not that bad. I will do my best to recover."
Japan's Kikuchihara Koyata emerged as the most consistent competitor, completing both runs without any obvious faults. He now sits second, with a score of 75.00. The ROK's Kim topped the men's standings after the first round with a score of 78.00.
The pioneering Afghan team, competing in the snowboard halfpipe at the Asian Winter Games for the first time, received rousing support from the crowd, even though the trio is unlikely to make the podium following Thursday's finals.
Ahmad Mushtaba Habibzi said that just making it to the Games was already a "gold medal moment" for the team.
"My dreams have truly come true today. I hope the young people in Afghanistan are watching and are inspired by us," Habibzi said.
Contact the writer at cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn
