YABULI, China—Young gun Laetaz Amihan Rabe finished last in a field of six competitors in the women’s freeski slopestyle event of Ninth Asian Winter Games on Tuesday here at the Freeski Slopestyle Stadium in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
Rabe garnered 56.50 points in the first run, but committed a DNI (Does Not Improve) tag in her final two, pushing her down to sixth place in the tournament ruled by three Chinese freestyle skiers.
“I’m still happy with my runs even though I ended up last. But I’ve made progress and I did my best as I pushed myself, which I have never done before,” said the 15-year-old Rabe, whose father Ric is from Cotabato City and mother Aileen, a native of Malolos, Bulacan.
China’s veteran freestyle skier 20-year-old Liu Mengting scored 94.0 points, highlighted by his gravity-defying stunts marked by spins and tricks, to take home the gold for the host country.
Her compatriot Yang Ruyi, 19, and Han Linshan, 18, grabbed the silver and bronze medals with 90.50 and 87.00 points, respectively, leading to the all-out Chinese podium domination of the tournament that has FIS judges from Slovenia, Japan, two Chinese, South Korea and Austria.
Japan freestyle ski champion Kiho Sugarawa placed fourth with 81.75 points and fellow Japanese Kanon Kondo dropped to fifth with 72.00, as they also both committed DNIs in their last run at the downhill slopestyle course.
Meanwhile, figure skaters Sofia Frank and Cathryn Limketkai take on 23 other figure skaters around the continent in the women’s single skating short program event on Wednesday at the HIC Multifunctional Hall.
