On February 17, Beijing time, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics freestyle ski U-shaped field event ended the men's qualification competition, and China's Mao Bingqiang, Sun Jingbo, He Binghan and Wang Haizhuo played poorly, winning the 14th, 18th, 21st and 22nd places respectively, failing to advance to the final, and the United States' Bronck ranked first with 92 points.
A total of 24 players participated in the freestyle ski men's U-shaped qualifying tournament, with China, the United States and New Zealand being the only countries to get a full quota of places. The four players of the Chinese team are all post-00s young players, Mao Bingqiang was born in 2001, and Sun Jingbo, Wang Haizhuo and He Binghan were all born in 2003.
This is Mao Bingqiang's second time to participate in the Winter Olympics, four years ago in Pyeongchang, South Korea, when only 16 years old he debuted in the Winter Olympics, although facing the reporter's camera is a little shy, but in the arena is not nervous at all, but some excitement and excitement, jumping, churning, turning, landing, repeatedly rushing into the air, Mao Bingqiang more smoothly completed the set of actions, and finally won the 20th place in 27 players, missed the final, but he and Kong Xiangrui created a history, Let Chinese appear for the first time in the U-shaped field of freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics.
Mao Bingqiang began practicing skiing at the age of 11 and joined the national team in 2016. During the Pyeongchang cycle, he made several appearances in the World Cup and won the Winter Olympics ticket with points. In the Beijing Winter Olympic cycle, Mao Bingqiang still has strong strength and has a good performance in the International Snow Federation points competition, but in the World Cup, he still has a big gap with the world's top athletes.
The New Zealand team is very strong in the event, with a total of four players taking places, including the famous Portios brothers. Younger brother Nick Portios, the bronze medalist at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang and the men's U-shaped venue champion at the 2021 World Championships, is the favourite to win the tournament. His older brother Miguel Portios finished 17th at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
The U.S. team is also a world-class team in the men's U-shaped field, and the four players who came to participate in this competition are very strong, David Wise, born in 1990, is a two-time champion of the Sochi and Pingchang Winter Olympics, Ferreira, Ilvie and Brunick have been on the podium in the World Cup and have the strength to win medals.
In the first round, Mao Bingqiang ranked 12th with 62.75 points, He Binghan ranked 17th with 45 points, Wang Haizhuo ranked 18th with 37 points, and Sun Jingbo ranked 23rd with 4.25 points. Medavi Wise was number one with 88.75 points, Canada's McKay was second with 87.25 points and Ferreira was third with 84.25 points.
In the second round of the competition, among the Chinese players, Sun Jingbo, who took the lead in the game, scored 48.75 points, He Binghan scored 17.75 points, Wang Haizhuo scored 9.25 points, Mao Bingqiang scored 66.25 points, and finally Mao Bingqiang ranked 14th, Sun Jingbo ranked 18th, He Binghan ranked 21st, Wang Haizhuo ranked 22nd, the four Chinese players did not qualify for the final, and the American player Bronck ranked first with 92 points. New Zealand's Nico Portios was second with 90.50 points, and another American, Irving, was third with 89.75 points.