SNOWBOARD: Australia’s Holly Crawford and Nate Johnstone both advanced directly to the snowboard halfpipe World Cup final in Sochi, Russia, after impressive displays in the qualification session today.

Crawford and Johnstone, both Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holders, are among a contingent of more than 40 Australian wintersport athletes competing in test events at the site of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

With two goals in mind – to gain a snapshot of what to expect at Sochi 2014 in less than 12 months and their chase for this season’s World Cup points – the Australian pair today set the scene for both objectives to be met.

Their qualification performances mean that Crawford and Johnstone bypassed the need to compete in a semi-final. 

In high quality fields befitting a Winter Olympic Games test event, Crawford, the silver medallist in last month’s World Championships, was third, with 74 points, in her qualification heat, resulting in her being one of six athletes to gain direct inclusion in the final.

Johnstone, attempting to shrug off heavy jetlag and the onset of a virus, set a high standard in his second run of the day, after falling during his first time down the pipe, scoring 86 points.

Johnstone, who finished second in his heat behind Japan’s Ryo Aono, was one of eight men to go straight through to the final.

Six other places in the women’s final will be decided in tomorrow’s semis while four places in the men’s final will come from semi-finals.

Australia’s Olympic champion Torah Bright is one of the semi-finalists chasing a spot in the final after finishing sixth in her heat, while fellow Aussie Scott James will also fight for a place in the 12-man final when he also lines up in a semi.

Crawford said she was impressed by the halfpipe despite the unusually warm conditions in the mountains outside of Sochi, labelling the halfpipe course as good as the highly-praised courses in Vancouver, Canada and Turin, Italy, the sites for the last two Winter Olympic Games.

Johnstone, currently second in the world rankings and yet to compete in a Winter Olympic Games, echoed his teammates’ comments about the Sochi halfpipe.

“It felt pretty good,” Johnstone said. “It’s a little beat up right now because it’s been through the women’s and a few heats of men’s but the shape has held up.

“The copings are nice and straight. It’s kind of hard with the weather like this. I actually did my first run in a jumper and felt hot.

“When it is warm like this you need to stay strong through the transition and hold your line.

“But with soft coping it can be a little touch and go sometimes. I think it was my cab 7 that I got caught up on the coping. I felt it catch and I had to tuck in to pull it round.

“There is a good chance next year’s Olympics are going to be pretty similar. At least now we know what to expect and we can work on these things.”

Promising Australian teenager, Kent Callister missed the cut to progress further.

Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWI)