Lloyd Wallace lands trick but finishes 21st in aerials

Freestyle Skiing 15 Feb 22

Lloyd Wallace finally crossed a terrific quadruple-twisting triple back flip off his Olympic bucket list in the men’s aerials qualifying.

The Southampton-born spinner scored 108.41 to put him 17th after the first qualification run having landed the move he was desperate to deliver four years ago in PyeongChang.

A slight separation of the skis docked him points and Wallace was unable to land his second jump, eventually finishing 21st and missing out on the 12 spaces in the final.

However, the 27-year-old expressed his relief at getting to show off his bag of tricks on the biggest sporting stage, becoming the first Brit to have ever landed the complicated move.

“Doing two different quadruple twists and triple back-ups, that’s an item ticked off for me," said Wallace, who shelved plans to perform the jump at PyeongChang in the wake of his injury.

“It was a goal of mine to do it before the last Olympics, but I had a crash and couldn’t do it."

“I went out there and hit both of my take-offs. I added two jumps that were both straight and I gave it my all," he added.

“I think I got a bit underscored on the first jump, which is a bit of a shame. My feet did come apart."

He attempted a variation of the trick for his second run, but a missed landing on a quad twist ended his chances of qualifying for the final, scoring 71.94.

“The first run gave me loads of confidence going into the second one and I just went for it. “I should have parachuted out at the end and put it more on my feet. Hindsight’s a lovely thing."

One of five Olympians in his family, Wallace took a break from the sport after finishing 20th in South Korea.

But a return in 2020 saw him reaching for the skies and pushing for another Olympic qualification. He said: “It’s cool to kick it with the best.

“I’ve managed to come out here and do sweet jumps, but unfortunately I couldn’t follow into the next one."