Canada's Boyd-Clowes, Soukup qualify for men's individual normal hill final
Pair of Calgary natives will compete for Olympic medals on Sunday at 7 a.m. ET
Canada's Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes and Matthew Soukup battled the wind on Saturday at the Zhangjiakou National Ski Jumping Center, qualifying for the Olympic final in the men's individual normal hill competition.
With 53 skiers in the qualifying round, the top 50 earned a spot in Sunday's final.
At his fourth Olympic Games, having made his debut at Vancouver 2010 as an 18-year-old, Boyd-Clowes finished 16th with a final score of 97.1 and a flight of 94.5 metres. The 30-year-old's best Olympic performance in the normal hill came at Pyeongchang 2018 when he jumped to 26th place.
Ok gotta compete in the Olympics now ttyl
—@MackenskiBCWith his finish in the qualifying round, the Calgary native put himself in a promising position to improve on his Olympic career-best. Having trained in Calgary and Whistler, B.C., Boyd-Clowes knows how to handle strong winds, and that skill was evident on Saturday.
Matthew Soukup, also from Calgary, punched his ticket to his first Olympic final with a score of 52.7 and a 75m flight. Making his Olympic debut at these Games, Soukup, 24, looks to build on a young career where he has never competed in a FIS World Cup normal hill competition.
Norway's Marius Lindvik topped the qualifying round with a score of 116.7 and a jump distance of 100.5m. Meanwhile, Lindvik's Norwegian teammate Robert Johansson slotted in behind him to help the country claim the top positions.
Germany's Karl Geiger, who leads the World Cup standings, finished ninth, but will challenge for the podium in the Olympic final.
Action from the men's individual normal hill final begins Sunday at 7 a.m. ET and will be streamed live on CBC Gem, the CBC Sports app and CBC Sports' Beijing 2022 website.
