DEER VALLEY, Utah — Vail’s Tess Johnson made it through qualifying and finished 12th at the FIS Snowboard, Freestyle Freeski World Championships in Deer Valley, Utah on Friday night.
After taking 12th in her first Olympics last February in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Johnson, 18, was making her first appearance at the world championships.
Running fifth out of 18 scheduled competitors, Johnson started her run smoothly with good technical form over the early bumps and took the first jump of the course with a 360, or helicopter.
Johnson was in a really good rhythm through the middle moguls with a relaxed upper body. Johnson went for big air on a backflip on jump No. 2, and she got it. But she over-rotated slightly, causing a slightly awkward landing. While she did land and finish, Johnson was in the back seat a little and that’s all it takes at such a high-level competition.
She finished with 66.11 points and didn’t make the super finals, which takes the top-six racers.
Johnson did have the third-fastest time, 20 percent of a competitor’s score, with a run of 28.56 seconds, behind only teammate Jaelin Kauf and Jakara Anthony.
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During afternoon qualifying, Johnson was a DNF during her first run but rebounded nicely to earn a ticket to the finals with a run with 60.86 points.
This story will be updated.
