Aggie Olympian Brita Sigourney twisted and flipped her way into the top three in qualifying in the halfpipe in Pyeongchang, making it into the final to be held Monday (Feb. 19) — which will be Tuesday in Korea.
Twenty-four freeskiers vied Sunday late afternoon-evening our time (Monday in Korea) for 12 spots in the final, where Sigourney will go for her first Olympic medal after finishing sixth in Sochi four years ago.
In qualifying in Pyeongchang, she skied cleanly on both her runs, scoring 90.60 on each of them and finishing in third place — best on the U.S. team.
She had plenty of style, not only on her skis, but in what she was wearing: a team uniform that another Aggie, Aliyah Cohen ’15 had a hand in making, as a designer for The North Face.
The final is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. PST Monday (Feb. 19).
Note: Don’t make the mistake I did for the qualifying round. I thought NBC would televise it. No, NBC did not televise it. I finally found it, late, online, and the final will be online, too. You can watch for an unlimited time for free when you verify that you have a cable, satellite or livestreaming TV subscription.
Sigourney enrolled at ºÙºÙÊÓƵ in 2008, becoming an Aggie like her parents, Thad and Julie, both ’76, and brother Brendan ’09. She left school early to join the newly established U.S. freeskiing team, subsequently earning a trip to the 2014 Games in Sochi where freeskiing made its Olympic debut.
Now, going into the final in her second Games, she trails Canada’s Cassie Sharpe, with a high score of 93.40, and France’s Marie Martinod, with a high score of 92.00. Sharpe is a first-time Olympian, while Martinod won the silver medal in Sochi.
Sigourney and two of her teammates made the Pyeongchang final. She is joined by Annalisa Drew, who finished fourth in qualifying with a high score of 86.00; and the gold medalist from Sochi, Maddie Bowman, who finished sixth in qualifying with a high score of 83.80.
The 12 finalists will get three runs each, and each skier’s best score is the one that counts.
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Dave Jones, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu