Hungarian freeskier Elizabeth Swaney may have made it to the 2018 Winter Olympics, but she took a bit of a different route than the rest of the athletes in PyeongChang.
Swaney’s Olympic run began and ended during Monday’s ladies’ halfpipe qualification when she skied a run that featured absolutely zero tricks. However, this amateur performance was apparently par for the course for the 33-year-old, who earned an Olympic berth simply by attending enough World Cup events.
“The field is not that deep in the women’s pipe and she went to every World Cup, where there were only 24, 25, or 28 women,” longtime halfpipe and slopestyle judge Steele Spence told The Denver Post, referencing the necessity for top-30 finishes. “She would compete in them consistently over the last couple years and sometimes girls would crash so she would not end up dead last.”
There were only 24 quota spots available in women’s ski halfpipe at this year’s Olympics, but injuries combined with countries not using all their spots made it so that the No. 34-ranked Swaney was able to compete in the Games. “I’m just trying to do the best for myself and represent Hungary as best as I can,” she said on Sunday.
Here’s what the Internet thought of her unique run.
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