It was a tough night for the Aussies on the aerial hill at the Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park, with intermittent light tail winds and the thermometer dropping below -30 degrees.
Training before the final saw almost all athletes struggle to find their feet, but on home territory the clear standout was Xu Mengtao who consistently landed her triple-twisting triple-back to eventually claim the gold.
Laura Peel and Danielle Scott both qualified for finals. Danielle was unable land either of her jumps in the finals, ending her Olympic campaign in tenth position. Laura scraped in a landing on her second jump to qualify for the super final in fourth position with 100.02 points. In the super final she crashed, ending the night in fifth position.
The debutant Gabi Ash, whose degree of difficult was the only thing stopping her from qualifying, performed strongly and has put herself in a great position for the future.
Laura, having performed strongly in the lead up to these Games, was extremely disappointed with her performance.
"Yep, I was pretty disappointed, and I know I can jump better than I did tonight," Laura said.
"I wish I would have done that.
"I don't really think that I have any excuses, I knew it was a big jump I had to stretch a little bit earlier. I waited until the last flip and that was a little bit too late and I couldn't put it to my feet.
"That jump is well with in my range, I can do it really nicely. At the last comp I scored 118 points on it, so I can do it a lot better than I did it tonight."
Danielle was equally disappointed. She pushed it really hard but was unable to find her feet on the night.
"It's brutal out here. I tried to give it my everything, but it's a lot of pressure. I really tried to put it all on the line but I was just feeling a little off, I guess you know it was just not what I wanted."
When talking about her future she spoke about being able to train at home and the convenience of Brisbane's Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre.
"With the water ramp in Australia now it makes our life a lot easier. We can now actually spend some time on home soil."
23-year-old Gabi Ash put down two solid jumps in qualifying, but didn't make it into the finals due to having a lower degree of difficult than the rest of the field.
"[I was] pretty excited I got two jumps to my feet, and they were clean so I'm really happy. I could have done the first one a bit better but all in all, I'm pretty happy," Gabi said.
"The main thing that I've learned through this experience is just to enjoy the sport that I'm doing here. Everyone has been great, so supportive and helpful. It's just been a really fun experience all around."
She is also looking forward to getting home and training in Brisbane.
"It's awesome to have a training facility that is on home soil that we can easily get too and maybe be able to study, see family and friends. There's a lot more of a work-life balance."
olympics.com.au
Jonathan Sweet
Training before the final saw almost all athletes struggle to find their feet, but on home territory the clear standout was Xu Mengtao who consistently landed her triple-twisting triple-back to eventually claim the gold.
Laura Peel and Danielle Scott both qualified for finals. Danielle was unable land either of her jumps in the finals, ending her Olympic campaign in tenth position. Laura scraped in a landing on her second jump to qualify for the super final in fourth position with 100.02 points. In the super final she crashed, ending the night in fifth position.
The debutant Gabi Ash, whose degree of difficult was the only thing stopping her from qualifying, performed strongly and has put herself in a great position for the future.
Laura, having performed strongly in the lead up to these Games, was extremely disappointed with her performance.
"Yep, I was pretty disappointed, and I know I can jump better than I did tonight," Laura said.
"I wish I would have done that.
"I don't really think that I have any excuses, I knew it was a big jump I had to stretch a little bit earlier. I waited until the last flip and that was a little bit too late and I couldn't put it to my feet.
"That jump is well with in my range, I can do it really nicely. At the last comp I scored 118 points on it, so I can do it a lot better than I did it tonight."
Danielle was equally disappointed. She pushed it really hard but was unable to find her feet on the night.
"It's brutal out here. I tried to give it my everything, but it's a lot of pressure. I really tried to put it all on the line but I was just feeling a little off, I guess you know it was just not what I wanted."
When talking about her future she spoke about being able to train at home and the convenience of Brisbane's Geoff Henke Olympic Winter Training Centre.
"With the water ramp in Australia now it makes our life a lot easier. We can now actually spend some time on home soil."
23-year-old Gabi Ash put down two solid jumps in qualifying, but didn't make it into the finals due to having a lower degree of difficult than the rest of the field.
"[I was] pretty excited I got two jumps to my feet, and they were clean so I'm really happy. I could have done the first one a bit better but all in all, I'm pretty happy," Gabi said.
"The main thing that I've learned through this experience is just to enjoy the sport that I'm doing here. Everyone has been great, so supportive and helpful. It's just been a really fun experience all around."
She is also looking forward to getting home and training in Brisbane.
"It's awesome to have a training facility that is on home soil that we can easily get too and maybe be able to study, see family and friends. There's a lot more of a work-life balance."
olympics.com.au
Jonathan Sweet
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