Torah Bright misses medals in slopestyle at Winter Olympics

AUSSIE star Torah Bright has fallen short of a medal in the first part of her bold three-pronged Winter Olympics assault plan.

THE sun came out for the first time all day, but the bright light proved no omen as Torah Bright finished seventh in the first ever Olympic ladies’ snowboard slopestyle competition at the Sochi alpine resort of Rosa Khutor.

Despite missing a medal in an event she was never favoured to dominate, Bright was her usual bubbly self after the event and is looking forward to defending her Olympic half-pipe title on Wednesday.

VIDEO: Horror crash smashes competitor’s helmet

“It was good, I was so happy to be up there and be part of the history made today. It was wonderful to see the girls really throw down,” Bright said.

“I think that was a wonderful representation of female snowboarding today and I am proud to be a part of it.”

News_Image_File: Australia's Torah Bright completes the rails section of the courst at the Winter Olympics slopestyle competition.

In the first leg of her bold three-pronged Winter Olympics assault plan, Bright got “big air” off her jumps but lost points for touching the snow with her body on both runs in the final.

She successfully executed a difficult manoeuvre called a ‘Cab 900’, the first time she had even tried it in any competition, but couldn’t quite nail the landing.

“That last one I was like ‘yeah I got it’,” Bright said.

Unfortunately, she landed a little off balance.

“That happens,” she said.

News_Rich_Media: Australia's Torah Bright missed out on a podium finish in the women's snowboard slopestyle, placing seventh in the final in Sochi. Here she shares her thoughts on the event.

Bright finished her first run in sixth place with a score of 64.75 but couldn’t improve her position in the second run with a score of 66.25.

But the Cooma-born 27-year-old is a half-pipe specialist and still has an opportunity to repeat her golden performance in Vancouver in that event on Wednesday.

“I’m in good nick, still smiling and I love snowboarding, so I’m good,” she said.

Bright also remains on track to become the first snowboarder to compete in three events at the Olympics, with the challenging snowboard cross event also ahead of her.

After mogul skier Brittney Cox narrowly missed claiming bronze in the ladies’ moguls on Saturday, Bright’s miss is an early blow to the Australian team, whose stated aim is to win at least four medals at these Games.

News_Image_File: Torah Bright goes big in the slopestyle final at the Winter Olympics.

Just over 12 months ago Bright hatched a plan with her brother and coach Ben to tackle the three events at these Games.

“I’m doing three events and I’m going to have a hell of a time,” she said days before hitting the Sochi snow.

Bright wasted no time criticising the Sochi slopestyle course just hours after touching down at the Olympics. She said it had been built by a substandard company and that the jumps were “very, very large”.

She backed those comments up today, saying the course could definitely have been better.

“I stand by my words that the level of build in the freestyle events does not match the level of rider,” she said.

“I’m not whingeing, it’s just the way it is.”

Before her final run Bright tapped her heart twice, then hugged the American Jamie Anderson who went on to win the event.

“I just had to get myself in a good place,” she said.

She also said the gesture was also a way of honouring her friends whose firstborn girl died tragically on Saturday.

“There’s more things to life than snowboarding and it was really hard for me to be over here and I just had to get myself in a good place and tapping the heart.

“I came to the conclusion that I need to be strength for them and I was going to go out and give them joy by snowboarding my little heart out.”

News_Image_File: Gold medalist Jamie Anderson and bronze winner Jenny Jones of Britain celebrate as they walk to the flower ceremony.

The USA’s Jamie Anderson took first place with 95.25 points, with Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi in second and early leader, Great Britain’s Jenny Jones, clinging on for the bronze.

The leader going into the final run, Czech Sarka Pancochova spectacularly crashed out in the second run.

Slopestyle is an event where competitors tackle a series of rails and jumps similar to an oversized version of a ski resort “terrain park”.

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