Quest University student Roz Groenewoud may not have skied her best, but she was proud to have reached the finals of the inaugural Olympic women's ski halfpipe competition on Thursday (Feb. 20) at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park in Russia.
Groenewoud, the Calgary native and 2011 world champion in the discipline, qualified for the finals of the event but fell during her first run in the finals. On her second run, she posted a respectable score of 74.20, but that wasn't enough to put her in the medals.
Maddie Bowman of the United States took the gold with a score of 89.00, France's Marie Martinod won silver with a score of 85.40 and Japan's Ayana Onozuka won bronze with a score of 79.00.
Keltie Hansen, another Quest student, finished 13th in the event, just missing out on a spot in the 12-skier final round.
Groenewoud had hoped to be on the podium in the competition that her friend and fellow 麻豆社国产resident, freeskiing pioneer Sarah Burke, helped get into the Olympics. Burke died after crashing while training in January 2012.
"Devastated that my skiing last night wasn't reflective of how hard I've worked," Groenewoud wrote on her Facebook page on Friday (Jan. 21). "However, I am proud to have skied in the finals for the inaugural ski halfpipe in the Olympics. Congrats to all the woman who pushed themselves and our sport last night."
Classes at Quest University were postponed on Thursday morning so that students and staff could watch their classmates compete. Several hundred gathered in the cafeteria to cheer on Groenewoud and Hansen.
