Aaron Hampshire posted the top qualifying time today at Arirang Hill Fest, and formed part of an unusual top six: two Coloradons, two Swedes, and two Australians. Kaila Dasol Jung of Korea was the fastest woman, five seconds ahead of Elissa Mah of New Zealand.
The day began with an the opening ceremony attended by the city mayor and the president of the Korean Olympic committee. The ribbon was cut, and the event was officially underway.
A camera was located at each corner, and the action was live streamed to a 200-inch TV screen at the finish line. Another screen showed live qualifying times and race brackets.
Yesterday’s practice times got smashed today and the 1:20 barrier fell on the first run. At lunch Aaron Hampshire was on 1:18.89 while Mauritz Armfield from Sweden and Mitch Thompson from Australia had also snuck under 1:20.
The wind picked up in the afternoon and only a few riders were able to improve their time. The top 30 riders automatically qualified for tomorrow’s finals, while the bottom 32 fought it out in the repechage for the last two places.
In the end it was Seunghun Lee of Korea and Julia Barklow of the USA triumphing in the repechage, after Kaila Dasol Jung unluckily crashing in the final corner while attempting to pass from second to first.
Check out all of today’s qualifying times and tomorrow’s race brackets here.
Text: Fede Barboni and Colin Beck
