Chinese snowboarders Liu Jiayu and Cai Xuetong finished second and sixth respectively in the women's halfpipe qualifiers at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games at Phoenix Snow Park on Monday.[Special coverage]
Liu, the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games champion, earned 87.75 points in her first run of two to book a berth in the final.
"Today, my goal is to enter the final. I made it. I am very satisfied with my performance today. I hope tomorrow I can compete with a happy smile. Hope there will be no regrets for me in the Olympics," said Liu, who placed fourth at the Vancouver Games in 2010 at the age of 18.
The 2017 world champion Cai notched her best score of 69.00 to take the sixth place.
"The wind is a little bit heavy today. So I did not try difficult jumps. It is just a qualifier, making it safe is more important. I think I could do better in the finals. Hopefully I can take something back home, " Cai said.
Other two Chinese girls Qiu Leng and Li Shuang failed to make the cut as they finished 16th and 22th respectively.
"This is my first time competing in the Olympics. There are some technical details I need to work on. I am a little disappointed that I did not enter the final, but the good thing is that I have gained some experience, " Qiu said.
American Chloe Kim nailed her second run and scored 95.50 points to easily qualify as No. 1 among 12 snowboarders who will advance to the final round, while Haruna Matsumoto of Japan was placed third in 84.25.
