Makayla Gerken Schofield celebrates ‘mind-blowing’ eighth place in moguls final
The 22-year-old exceeded expectations by making it through to the penultimate phase of the final series
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Your support makes all the difference.Makayla Gerken Schofield celebrated a “mind-blowing” result after finishing in a career-best eighth position in the women’s moguls final in Zhangjiakou.
The 22-year-old exceeded expectations by making it through to the penultimate phase of the final series despite having never previously scored a major top 10 result.
“I don’t know when it’s going to sink in but I think there’s going to be a lot of tears. Top eight is mind-blowing to be honest,” said Gerken Schofield.
“I definitely felt more confident with each run, which actually feels really good. I had so much fun skiing the course, it’s absolutely stunning.
“My confidence was just growing and growing and I’m super proud of myself.”
Gerken Schofield’s older sister Leonie finished 27th in the same event, while Rupert Staudinger came 23rd in the men’s luge.
Andrew Musgrave battled through “horrifically hard” conditions to finish 17th in the men’s skiathlon.
The 31-year-old’s hopes of challenging for a medal at his fourth Games were effectively ended by a lightning-fast start by Russian gold medallist Alexander Bolshunov.
Musgrave, who finished seventh in the same event in Pyeongchang slid away from the leaders in the early stages and paid tribute to Bolshunov, who held off his compatriot Denis Spitsov to win by 71 seconds.
“It’s one of the slowest 30kms I’ve ever done,” said Musgrave. “It felt horrifically hard but I just blew up after three laps there. It was a bit of a wild race.
“I wasn’t feeling too bad but the form Bolshunov is in at the moment is absolutely wild. That’s one of the most ridiculous races that’s ever been done. We’re going to have to do something miraculous to beat him.”
I wasn't feeling too bad but the form Bolshunov is in at the moment is absolutely wild. That's one of the most ridiculous races that's ever been done. We're going to have to do something miraculous to beat him.
Musgrave, who will now set his sights on his favoured men’s 50km later in the Games, revealed cross-country team-mate Andrew Young was late to arrive in Beijing after testing positive for coronavirus last month.
Young landed on Sunday and delivered the required negative test, and will now be allowed to compete in his first event, the men’s sprint, on Tuesday.
Musgrave added: “He got Covid a few days before he was due to come out but it didn’t seem to last for too long.
“He was feeling bad for a couple of days but got back into training fairly quickly and produced the negative tests he needed. He was in super-good form before he got it and he didn’t seem to lose too many days.”
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