China's 16-year-old Zhang retains halfpipe world title

World
Europe

01:18

In the second matchday of the 2018-19 FIS Freeski & Snowboard World Cup in Chongli of north China's Hebei Province, China's Zhang Kexin won the ladies' halfpipe champion, successfully defending the title she won last year.

The 16-year-old is one of the two Chinese athletes in the final after coming third in qualifying on the same day. Backward skiing was Zhang's main strength, and each of the six judges gave her a score of more than 85 points. She eventually claimed the top position on the podium with 87.75 points overall.

Canada's Rachael Karker took the silver and Zhang's teammate Li Fanghui finished third.

The halfpipe is a relatively new event at the Winter Olympics. It made its debut at the 2014 Sochi Games and both Zhang and Li will be hoping to continue their form in the Beijing Games in 2022.

Zhang said: "In the last two days' training, I didn't feel well as I was a little bit down. But in today's match, I felt much better than in training."

On the men's side, Canadian veteran Simon d'Artois went for his much-anticipated first World Cup victory, and China's 16-year-old Mao Bingqiang finished eighth in the final. It is the first time a Chinese male athlete has made it to the top eight in the international A contests. Mao is confident of his shape at the Beijing Games: "Four years later, I will step onto the podium."