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Great Britain's Rowan Cheshire qualifies for ski halfpipe final at Winter Olympics 2018

Getty Images
Getty Images

Rowan Cheshire has already gone one step further than in Sochi.

At the last Games, she was knocked out in a training crash, her face blackened and bruised, the then teenager pulling out before the halfpipe competition had even begun.

The rebuild both physically — a further crash left her with severe headaches and dizziness — and mentally — a psychologist had to coax her back on to the slopes — has been painstaking.

But on Monday, the 22-year-old booked a place in Tuesday’s final, her first-run score of 74 enough to make the cut for the three runs that lie ahead.

“After everything, it feels amazing to reach the final,” she said. “There were a lot of emotions there today after what happened four years ago. I’ve been injured for most of the last four years.

“I’m so happy, I can relax a bit now. I had a pretty good training run, I was trying to stay relaxed and chilled through it all. The first run, I just wanted to land a run and show what I could do. I missed out a trick in the first run just so that I could land and make the finals potentially. The second run was still a bit scrappy but I’ve got three runs in finals to clean that up. I’m just happy to make it and show what I can do.”

British team-mate Molly Summerhayes missed out on a place in the final after a best score of 66.00 left the 20-year-old in 17th. Two years after an ACL injury, Summerhayes, who admitted to continually falling at the test event a year ago, described her performance as “the best I’ve ever skied”.

It proved another tough day on the slopes for Aimee Fuller, who had struggled in the high winds in snowboard slopestyle. In qualifying for big air she scored of 25.00 from her two runs leaving her in 25th place. She said: “I landed it in training. It’s gutting not to land it in qualification.”

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