Kailani Craine through to free skate top 24 at PyeongChang
AUSTRALIAN figure skater Kailani Craine has performed a clean short program to progress to the free skate in PyeongChang.
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AUSTRALIAN figure skater Kailani Craine has performed a clean short program to progress to the free skate in PyeongChang.
Craine scored 56.77 for a routine in which she pulled off a triple loop to double toe loop and an impressive layback spin.
The 19-year-old Winter Olympic debutant finished 16th in the 30-woman field yesterday, with the top-24 progressing to the second and final round in two days.
“I actually wasn’t that nervous going out. I was nervous before walking out in the warm-up,” Craine told the Seven Network.
“I was focused but because I was so well trained coming into it I could just switch off my brain and enjoy it at the same time.”
Craine has little chance for a medal as Alina Zagitova, under the Olympic Athlete From Russia banner, topped the short program with a score more than 26 points above the Australian.
Another Olympic Athlete From Russia, Evgenia Medvedeva (81.61) and Canadian Kaetlyn Osmond (78.87) round out the top three of qualifying, with the winner decided by the top cumulative score from the two skates.
Meanwhile, Australian Anton Grimus has been eliminated in the first-round of the ski cross finals.
Grimus was forced to race against three top-20 competitors after a slow time in his seeding run due to a crash.
He finished last in the four-man heat, starting slowly then losing further ground as Canadian world No. 7 Kevin Drury and 16th-ranked Frenchman Arnaud Bovolenta progressed.
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