Australian aerial skier Dave Morris executed two outstanding jumps in qualification at Cypress Mountain tonight and went agonisingly close to making the Olympic final.

The 25-year-old had a combined scored of 221.02 from his triple twisting triple somersault and his new quadruple trick, to finish 13th. He missed a place in the 12-man final by 0.89 of a point.

Morris, who only contested his first World Cup a year ago and qualified for the Games last month, was all smiles with his performance despite his near miss.

“It’s a little but annoying,” he said. “I’m very happy with my night for sure. That last jump was probably the best one I’ve ever done so I can’t go home disappointed at all.”

Morris was the final jumper and knew that he needed a near perfect quad to give him any chance of making the final. He executed it beautifully under enormous pressure for a score of 115.93, however it wasn’t quite enough.

He only attempted this complex trick a few weeks ago and has only landed '10 or 11 of them'. Tonight’s performance was even more remarkable having crashed heavily in training while attempting his quad 24 hours earlier.

“I got a little bit lost in the air because I missed my take-off, so today I got up there and had to do it again,” he explained still sporting a cut on his face from the training accident.

“The first one (triple) was a bit iffy but I had to get my head around it and then it was all or nothing on the last jump of the competition. And I’ll take all.”

From the 25 competitors only the three Canadians got a louder cheer. With his green and gold dyed hair and ‘Davo’ fan club he was a crowd favourite.

Spectators who had never heard of him before tonight were “sad that the Aussie didn’t make the final”.  

“After having to fast track everything this season the goal was to get here," Morris said. "And sadly it was also to make the finals. But what can you do?”

Considering his rapid rise in the sport if he can avoid serious injury by Sochi 2014 his goal is likely to be a medal not the final.

“I think I stand a pretty good chance of giving them a run for their money,” he said with a smile when asked about Sochi.

One athlete who will also be watching the final from the stands is World No.1. Anton Kushner. The Belarusian who was a clear favourite for the gold uncharacteristically missed the landing on his second jump which cost him dearly.

China’s Zongyang Jia qualified first for the final with 242.52 for his near perfect quad jumps. He will be joined by two teammates when the medals are decided on Thursday.

Andrew Reid
AOC – Cypress Mountain