All Three United States Men’s Aerialists Advance To Final
Feb 15, 2022, 5:24 AM
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
A pair of men’s aerialists qualified following the first round of action Tuesday evening in Beijing while another *** joined the ranks in the second qualification stage.
The opening round of qualification saw the top six athletes qualify immediately into the final. Fortunately for Team USA, Eric Loughran and Christopher Lillis finished in fourth and sixth respectively granting them immediate qualification into the final.
The remaining 18 jumpers then went into a second qualification stage in an effort to qualify for the final.
During the second bout of qualifying, each aerialist jumped twice, with the judges taking the best score of the two jumps. Justin Schoenefeld was the lone American in the second round of qualifying after missing an automatic finals bid by less than two points from the opening round and his form continued finishing fifth to qualify for the finals.
Remarkably, all three United States competitors qualified to the final. Of the 12 jumpers to contend for a medal, a quarter of them will be from the United States.
However, strong competition awaits as the top two scores from qualification both belong to Quanpu Qi and Zongyang Zia of China with scores of 127.88 and 125.67 respectively.
The final is set to begin at Genting Snow Park A & M Stadium tomorrow evening at 4 a.m. MT time.
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics
Just a year after Japan’s summer Olympics, the Games are back for a winter show in Beijing, China. The unusually short gap between Games is due to the ongoing Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Strict precautions and enforced virus prevention protocol are in place to help keep athletes, coaches and personnel safe.
Beijing is the capital of China, with a population of more than 20 million people and the first city to host both a Summer and Winter Olympic games. It is one of the largest cities in the world and 15 hours ahead of Mountain Time. There are 13 different venues in and around Beijing that will be used for the Winter Olympics. A total of 109 events will be held in 15 different sports, and there will be a lot of Utah locals competing for medals. Keep up to date with them at our Olympic headquarters.
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