New Zealand Ice Figure Skater Yanhao (Dwayne) Li has executed a stunning routine to place fourth at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon South Korea.
The Auckland 15-year-old was in fine form, nailing a triple lutz and a triple flip, triple toe loop combination, to score 68.01 in front of a packed crowd at the Gangneung Ice Arena.
“I really liked the atmosphere, and it was really great to skate in there even though I was a bit nervous,” said Li.
The skater also had to battle through a bloody nose, which struck halfway through his routine.
“I was just in the middle of a spin and it started going all over the place. It’s happened quite a few times before in training, so I just pushed on and finished my routine. It was actually quite funny.”
It was New Zealand’s Ice Figure Skating debut at any form of Winter Olympic Games.
“I felt really proud when I finished and saw the New Zealand flag in the audience, it was an amazing feeling.”
Li was born in Beijing, China where he began skating aged four before his family immigrated to New Zealand when he was aged eight.
Li will compete again in the men’s individual free skating competition on January 29th.
It was also a big day of competition for New Zealand’s Freeski and Snowboard athletes with Big Air qualification underway.
First up at Welli Helli Ski Resort were Ava Beer and Lucia Georgalli. Beer was solid in both her runs to qualify in third, with Georgalli landing a solid second run to qualify in fifth.
“It was really fun today, the conditions were on and I’m just really stoked that I landed both my runs,” said Beer.
In the men’s Snowboard Big Air Cam Melville Ives and Txema Mazet Brown were impressive from the outset, both stomping their first runs to put down scores in the high 80s and qualify for finals.
“The course was running super good and it was great to get that first run down. I’m just stoked all round and ready for finals tomorrow,” said Mazet Brown.
In the men’s Freeski Big Air Luke Harrold qualified in fourth for finals while Hamish Barlow wrapped his campaign, finishing in 17th.
The mixed doubles curling also got underway with New Zealand beating Brazil 12-5 in their opening match.
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