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Snowboarder Jakub Hroneš did not reach the finals of the Big Air discipline at the Winter Olympics. He took 28th place in the qualification in Livigno. For the better two of his three jumps, he received a total mark of 86.00, 77 points separated him from the top twelve. The Japanese Hiroto Ogiwara performed best in the qualification.
Twenty-one-year-old Hroneš lost his chance of success after only two jumps at the premiere under five rings. After the first trick from a raid built on a 55-meter-high structure, he got a lot on the back edge of the board on impact and “raked” his hand on the ground.
After the opening round, he was 22nd out of 30 competitors. He definitely needed to improve the mark of 40 points for the second time in order to maintain a chance for the finals. Despite the support of the Czech snowboard cross team, including Eva Adamczyková, he did not succeed. This time the impact did not stop at all and there was hope.
In the final round, Hroneš already performed his best-rated jump without a chance to advance, but even this time he did not get off it cleanly, and his mark of 46 points was far behind the finalists, who received over 80 points for at least one of their tricks. The Czech freestyle snowboarder, who was twice in the top five in the SP race last season, just like in both of his starts at the WC, remained at the gates of the finals.
Qualification winner Ogiwara, a two-time X-Games champion, scored a combined 178.50 points. 163 points were needed to advance. A complete quartet of Japanese made it to the finals. The only representative of Europe in the fight for medals will be the Italian Ian Matteoli.
Hroneš still awaits slopestyle at the Olympics, the qualification of which is scheduled for Monday, February 16. In the Big Air discipline, his representative colleague Laura Záveská will appear among the women and she will fight for participation in the final on Sunday, February 8.
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