Liu and Ando top Secret Garden qualifiers
Aug 31, 2018·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Chinese and Japanese riders have left their mark on the qualifiers for the 2017-18 Snowboard World Cup season's third halfpipe event which took place in the Secret Garden superpipe today.
After facing challenging wind over the past couple of days, Mother Nature finally was on the rider's side offering perfect conditions for a competition which not only plays a big role in the current winter but also for a major event as great events are often foreshadowed.
While competing for World Cup points and national team quote spots for the up-coming 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea, the field also got some first impressions on what to expect fin five years as the third to last halfpipe contest until the official international qualifier period comes to an end on January 21, 2018, took place in the superpipe which will host the halfpipe competitions of the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
And with the field mainly consisting of riders from Asia, it's been Jiayu Liu (CHN) and Naito Ando (JPN) coming out first of the one-heat women and men qualifiers, respectively.
Liu threw down a switch backside air to cab 720 backside grab, frontside 540, backside 540 mute, frontside 720 and a switch air to fakie to earn a 95.00 moving up to the finals alongside Xuetong Cai (CHN; 91.75), Sena Tomita (JPN; 90.00), Kurumi Imai (JPN; 86.25), Emily Arthur (AUS; 83.50) and Hikaru Oe (JPN; 81.00).
Over in the men's event Ando earned a 92.75 for landing a backside indy to frontside 1080 indy, cab double cork 1080, frontside 900 melon, backside 540 japan and a frontside indy.
The men's final will also feature Copper Mountain winner and current Wold Cup leader Ayumu Hirano (JPN; 90.25), Patrick Burgener (SUI; 86.75), Yuto Totsuka (JPN; 85.75), Raibu Katayama (JPN; 84.25), Peetu Piiroinen (FIN; 77.50), Kwang Ki Lee (KOR; 76.75), Nikita Avtaneev (RUS; 76.25), Taku Hiraoka (JPN; 75.25) and Tim-Kevin Ravnjak (SLO; 73.50).
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