After fighting her way back from a serious injury, Team GB’s Katie Ormerod finished in18th place following her two qualification runs in the Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle. The top 12 progress to tomorrow’s final.
Katie Ormerod pictured during a visit to Chill Factore
Katie, aged 24, finally became an Olympian after an injury to her heel prevented her appearing at previous games.
She said: “I’ve been waiting a really long time for this moment to drop in and compete in an Olympic Games.
“I was stood at the top before my first run when I was about to drop in and I was like, ‘wow, this is my moment, I’ve become an Olympian finally.’
“It was a really special moment and just to land that first run and get down, I’ve never felt a feeling like that.
“It was pure joy, and I’m so proud of myself for everything I’ve gone through, to finally get there again.
“It’s been awesome being out here. You definitely know you’re at the Olympics – the Olympic vibe is high.
“To finally drop in and know I’m an Olympian now. I’ve been waiting so long – literally years, to say that.
“The conditions were okay but it’s been very challenging in the training days, which meant that I needed the hour’s training today to try and piece a run together.
“It has been very difficult, so I’m really proud I made it happen, made it work and I got a run down.”
Her next event is the Big Air on 14 February.
Team GB freestyle skier Will Feneley finished 27th overall in the Men’s Moguls.
The 22 year old said afterwards: “Two days ago, I came out and did a good run. I took the two days to try and think about what I could improve on. I wanted to improve the speed and the top air.
“I know I did a lot better on the top air there, maybe a little mistake coming out of that and then I didn’t really speed up enough, so I didn’t get the points that I wanted on that and the bottom air unfortunately just drifted a bit.
“I’m still happy with my run.Dealing with that pressure is a long learning curve and I’m excited for what I can do in the future.
“I think resilience is one of the key words from this Games. There’s so many different factors that you could be thinking about but the most important thing is: how can I improve my performance?
“I’ve never been to a Games before but you’ve got all the Covid requirements, making sure you are staying healthy, but then also the expectation of it being the Games.
“To balance those two things for the first time has been a challenge, but something I’m greatly appreciative of being able to go through and hopefully it will hold me in great stead as we go into the next seasons and hopefully into the next Games.