Australia’s Anna Segal finishes fourth in final of ski slopestyle event marred by Canadian Yuki Tsubota’s horrific crash

AUSSIE Anna Segal fell agonisingly short of winning a medal in a ski slopestyle final marred by a horrific crash involving a Canadian skier.

BIG-EVENT performer Anna Segal has fallen agonisingly short of winning a medal, finishing fourth in the ski slopestyle event at the Sochi Olympics.

The 27-year-old battled with an injured knee and a cold to work her way up the leaderboard during the final run of competition.

She was hanging on to third with only one rival left who could knock her off the podium, but Canada’s Kim Lamarre delivered a bronze-medal winning run.

The final was a reminder of how dangerous these events can be, with Canadian Yuki Tsubota suffering a horrible crash during the final and gold-medallist Dara Howell dedicating her win to a former teammate who died while competing in superpipe two years ago.

News_Image_File: Australia's Anna Segal competes in the Women's Freestyle Skiing Slopestyle finals.

“Relief, happiness, stoked to see my family,’’ Segal said, after her fourth-place had sunk in.

“This last year has been the roller-coaster of my life.’’

Segal, 27, was one of the ski slopestyle favourites before injury concerns started to emerge about a year ago. She had to pass a medical test to even compete.

She turned in a 77-point effort in her first run in the finals, and hit the accelerator in her last run but crashed on the last jump.

The 77-point run ended up being good enough for fourth, but well behind Lamarre who scored 85 for third.

Pressure is now starting to mount on the Australian team to break through with its first medal-winning performance at Sochi.

News_Rich_Media: Slopestyle skier Anna Segal says that while she didn't put in her best performance in Sochi, she is extremely happy with her fourth place finish and cannot wait to compete in the Olympics again.

“I knew as soon as she finished it wasn’t enough,” Segal said. “I know how Kim skis and know how the judges mark her.”

Howell streeted the field with a brilliant 94.20 point run, while the USA’s Devin Logan took silver with 85.40 points.

Segal admitted her knee was badly injured, saying she would have “gone home and had surgery” if it had not been the Olympics.

“This road is so long I’ve seen so many of my friends blow ACLs and the fact that I’m here and still skiing — I’ve got no regrets really,’’ she said.

News_Image_File: Anna Segal of Australia.

Despite just failing to win a medal, Segal enhanced her reputation as a top performer under pressure.

She took out the world championship in 2011 and is a regular podium finisher in pro tour events.

While many snowboarders, including Torah Bright, have criticised the half-pipe as being below Olympic standard, the slopestyle course has been well received after being modified and the jumps reduced in size.

Segal’s coach Tori Beattie described the course as “awesome’’ saying it was allowing top competitors to shine.

News_Image_File: Canada's Yuki Tsubota crashes on her last run in the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle final.

But a reminder of how dangerous the sport can be came during the second run in the final when Canadian Yuki Tsubota suffered a horrible crash and had to be stretchered off the course.

On the final jump she failed to get the distance required to get over the lip of the slope and hit the top with a shuddering impact.

However, Canadian freestyle skiing team leader Peter Judge revealed she had suffered only a jaw injury.

News_Image_File: Canada's Yuki Tsubota crashes on her last run in the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle final.

“We’re having her jaw assessed, she’s at the hospital right now,’’ he said.

“She’s sustained some kind of a jaw injury, she’s in getting X-ray and a CAT scan, but no concussion. Everything else is good. We’re just concerned about the jaw and getting that checked out.’’

Howell, the world championship silver medallist, posted the winning score on her first run with no-one else getting close to it before dedicating her win to a tragic former teammate.

Sarah Burke was one of the pioneers of the superpipe event and lobbied tirelessly to have slopestyle included on the Olympic program.

But the Canadian died in a superpipe — a discipline that is not on the Olympic program — accident in Utah two years ago at just 29 years of age.

News_Image_File: Canada’s Dara Howell with her ski slopestyle gold medal.

“I said the other day that I really hope a Canadian brings home a gold medal and it will be for Sarah,’’ the champion said.

“This medal is definitely for Sarah, she pushed the sport so much, she always wanted to see the progression and to see girls throwing kinda what the guys were throwing.

“She always had a smile on her face and loved what she did. Today I feel like that’s what I did (brought home the gold for Burke).’’