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South Okanagan athlete to compete in moguls finals at PyeongChang Olympics

A guide to watching Penticton athlete Andi Naude compete at the Olympics
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Penticton’s Andi Naude, who is ranked as the number two skier in the world, will be competing for a medal on the moguls hill at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics early Sunday morning.

Related: Olympics alert: Naude qualifies for finals

In her first qualification run on Thursday evening, Naude finished in second place with a score of 79.60. In front of her was Perrine Laffont (79.72) of France and in third was Morgan Schild (77.74). The top 10 women, which also included Canadians Justine Dufour-Lapointe (who won gold in Sochi 2014), Audrey Robichaud and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe (who won silver in Sochi 2014), advance directly to the finals on Sunday at 4 a.m. (PST).

Related: One more hill to conquer for Naude at Olympics

Penticton’s Rob Kober, who coaches the freestyle team, is also at the Olympics.

Related: Life on the road to Olympic gold for Penticton coach

He told the Western News during a pre-Olympics training session at Apex that he believes Naude will be on the podium as well as Canadian men’s moguls skier Michael Kingsbury.

Related: Penticton coach prepping Freestyle Canada athletes for Olympics at Apex

How to watch:

The final for the women’s moguls will take place at 4 a.m. (PST) and according to CBC will be aired live.

However, before that happens a second qualification run will take place on Sunday, at 2:30 a.m. (PST). This is when the remaining competitors, that did not finish in the top 10 in the first qualification round, will get a second chance to make the finals.

In the finals, 20 athletes will complete one run and the top 12 scores advance to the super finals. The results will determine the three medals winners. Scores do not carry over from each round.

Related: Your guide to Okanagan athletes at the Olympics

What is moguls?

Moguls is one of the five disciplines of freestyle skiing.

Athletes ski down the course one at a time over a series of rounded bumps and will hit two jumps during their run where they will perform a trick. The competition is, for the most part, judged. A total of 60 per cent of an athletes score is judged by five people on the athletes turns — this includes carving, body control, hands in front, absorption and extension over the moguls, legs together in a consistent position. Two judges determine the 20 per cent on the difficultly and execution of their tricks. The remaining part of their score is the speed at which they complete the course. The maximum number of points that can be handed out is 100.0.

Canada’s top medalist in this sport is Jennifer Heil. She competed in Turin 2006 winning a gold and at Vancouver 2010, winning a silver medal.