TORONTO – Medal favourite and world champion Kaya Turski had her Olympic dreams cut short Tuesday after crashing in both qualifying runs in the Olympic debut of women’s ski slopestyle.
The seven-time Winter X Games champion fell heavily at the top of the course, separating her shoulder in the fall but managed to pop it back in herself.
On the second run she fell again – this time on the final jump.
Fresh off the X Games the 25-year-old Montreal native arrived at Sochi battling a virus.
“I’ve just been feeling low the last two weeks,” she said. “I’ve been fighting this. It’s Day 15 and I’m still kind of struggling.”
It’s been a long road to the Olympics. The world champion underwent experimental knee surgery in August after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee.
“I struggled this morning in practice and kind of lost confidence and hesitated my first run. That’s what happened,” she said.
Turski finished 19th in the 22-woman qualifying field.
Meanwhile, Canada captured gold and bronze in the slopestyle finals.
Ontario’s Dara Howell captured the gold medal in with a best score of 94.20, while Quebec’s Kim Lamarre won bronze with an 85.00 score on her second run.
–with files from the Associated Press
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