Kiwi freeskier Nico Porteous has kept his Winter Olympics gold-medal hopes alive, qualifying second for the halfpipe final at Beijing on Saturday.
But his progress to the final 12 contenders came with some axiety, as the 2018 bronze medallist sat just eighth - behind older brother Miguel - after the first of two rounds, with plenty of well-credentialled rivals snapping at his heels.
His unpolished effort scored just 75.50 points, which would have placed him ninth, if he hadn't improved with his second attempt.
"I put a bit of pressure on myself after that first run, to be honest," says Porteous, 20. "I didn't quite ski the way I wanted to, missed a couple of grabs and basically got the Olympic jitters out of the way.
"I dropped in and almost crashed on the drop-in - that was pretty strange and caught me by surprise. In the second run, I knew I had a bit of pressure on me, so I just stuck to what I know and it paid off."
The reigning world champion responded with a much more assured performance at second attempt, scoring 90.50 to trail only two-time world champion Aaron Blunck to the next stage and break up an American triumvirate that also consisted of Birk Irving and double Olympic gold medallist David Wise.
"I wasn't too nervous, I had done that run many, many times," he says. "It felt good, especially after the stress of the first one."
At halfway, New Zealand had three skiers in the final field, with Miguel Porteous in sixth and Ben Harrington 10th, but they gradually lost ground, as the first-round stumblers regathered themselves for their second efforts.
The older Porteous had done enough to secure his place in the medal round, but Harrington slid to 13th and suffered a nasty crash, as he tried valiantly to regroup, finishing 1.5 points out of contention. He will be sore tomorrow, after overshooting a jump and landing on the edge of the halfpipe, lying prone for several moments, as medical staff rushed to his aid.
Teenager Gustav Legnavsky finished 19th, but has time on his side.
Nico Porteous came into the Olympics off a clutch performance at X-Games Aspen, where he nailed the competition's last run to steal victory ahead of Blunck and Wise. He oncorked his Olympic routine for that result - that combination remains up his sleeve for when it counts.
Blunck (USA) 92.00 1, N Porteous (NZ) 90.50 2, Irving (USA) 89.75 3... M Porteous (NZ) 81.00 9... Harrington (NZ) 69.25 13... Legnavsky (NZ) 48.25 19
Join us at 2:30pm Saturday for live updates of Nico and Miguel Porteous in the Winter Olympics freeski halfpipe final at Beijing
