(Billy Morgan, First Person To Compete At Sochi Games)
Two of Britain’s top snowboarders have qualified for the final and semi-finals of the men’s snowboard slopestyle competition at the Sochi Olympics after the games started with pre-qualification events at 6am (UK time) this morning, the day before the opening ceremony.
Jamie Nicholls finished fourth in men’s snowboard slopestyle qualifying heat one with a best score of 86.75 from his second run, advancing straight to the final.
“I feel amazing. I can’t explain it. I came here and all I wanted to do was land a run and landing a run and getting to the finals is a dream come true,” said Jamie, “I am just going to go up there again in the final and try my best. I am just happy to have made it. I went for it. The standard is crazy. To be able to go up there and do a run that I have never done in my life shows the standard is pretty high.”
“Now I am in the finals I have got to go all out – 100 per cent – I am just going to go for it and see what happens. I could even step up my run two more than I did. I’m happy I made it, I am not bothered anymore,” Jamie added.
Billy Morgan was the first person to perform at the Sochi Games and finished sixth in men’s snowboard slopestyle qualifying heat one with a best score of 85.50 from his second run, advancing to the semi-finals.
On being the first athlete to compete at Sochi 2014, Billy said, “It was pretty cool, I didn’t realise until one of the other athletes told me at the top. It was pretty cool. I didn’t think about it until the last minute. I had fun and it was really good.”
“It is absolutely amazing. I got to the bottom and looked around and saw that the stands were half full – and this is just qualification. It is good to see people coming to see our sport and the Games haven’t even started,” he added,
Yesterday the American snowboarding superstar Shaun White pulled out of Slopestyle to concentrate on the half pipe event and his bid to win gold at three successive Olympics, indicating that the slopestyle course was potential dangerous.
“The course is fine. There are always changes to be made but they sorted that out. The jumps are good and fast and fun. I was happy. I messed my first run up a bit but my second run was solid. I could clean it up a bit,” concluded Billy.