Bright, Crawford & Johnstone through to Laax finals

Courtesy: olympics.com.au 

In unpredictable weather conditions, PyeongChang hopefuls Torah Bright, Holly Crawford and Nate Johnstone are all through to the snowboard halfpipe finals at the Laax World Cup.

Qualifications on Thursday were cancelled due to a snow storm, however a small break in the weather saw the semi-finals held at the Swiss ski resort overnight. 

In the women’s event Bright qualified in fifth place with a top score of 79.50, with Crawford two spots below in seventh with a top score of 78.00.

Both Aussies will compete for a shot at the podium in the eight-woman final on Saturday night.

China’s Jiayu Liu topped the semi-finals with an incredible second run, scoring 98.50. Liu’s teammate Xuetong Cai sits in second with 96.25 and Frances’s Mirabelle Thovex qualified third with 84.00.

Triple Olympians Bright and Crawford are both working towards a fourth in South Korea next month.

In the men’s semi-final, Sochi Olympian Johnstone’s best run of 67.25 put him in 13thposition with the top 14 riders qualifying for Saturday’s final.

The Swiss riders benefited from the local crowd, with four athletes advancing through to the finals. The top two spots going to Patric Burgener and Sochi 2014 gold medallist Iouri Podladtchikov on best scores of 97.00 and 96.00 respectively. China’s Yiwei Zhang will head into the final as the third ranked athlete on a score of 93.00.

The Laax Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup will kick off at 1pm local time (11pm AEDT Saturday). Follow the live results HERE.

Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au