Morris suffers devastating early aerials exit
Australia's Sochi silver medallist David Morris has suffered a devastating early exit in the men's aerials final in PyeongChang on Sunday night.
The 33-year-old was among the favourites to medal and hoped to show off his five-twist, triple-flip move in the last round, but a shaky landing -- despite maintaining his balance on the way down the hill -- meant the Melburnian received a score of 111.95.
That figure would have put him fourth in the first round in Sochi but the level of competition was much higher this time round and he finished 10th, one place away from qualifying for the second round.
China's Jia Zongyang scored 118.55 despite suffering an unconvincing landing that saw him take a tumble down the hill, with Australian gold medallist Lydia Lassila labelling the judges' scoring "ludicrous".
Morris, however, produced a classy response to what might be the end of his individual career at the Winter Olympics.
"It can't be undone now. It is what it is. I've accepted it. It's fine," he told Channel 7.
"I'm pretty happy with myself just to be here and in one piece, still alive. Goal number one: didn't die."
Morris's mother Marg was diagnosed with cancer before Christmas last year, offering the Melburnian perspective on his first-round departure.
"It's a bit disappointing to not be able to do (his five-twist move) but 10th in the Olympics is fantastic," he said.
"This is a fantastic competition, everyone's putting down huge jumps. It's nothing to be disappointed about. People have come to watch something amazing and that's what they got."
Morris conceded he was confused about the judging for his landing compared to Zongyang's but had no complaints.
Watch Zongyang's controversial landing:
"I can't argue it. That's tough luck for me, that's how these sports go," Morris said.
"If we don't like judged sports I'll take up running or something where it's timed and you just can't argue."
Lassila, who missed out on qualifying for the final of the women's aerials, called on the judges to consider how they decided the two scores.
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"The rules are you've got to ski out in a controlled position and if you do catch an edge down the bottom of the landing then they will reward you," Lassila said on Channel 7.
"But he was not in control on the landing and he fell over. So 118 for that, I'm in disbelief. It's really, really unfortunate that Dave's out of the next round. He had a real chance.
"It's a judged sport and we can't control what they do but they've got to seriously review what they have decided on tonight."
Zongyang, who finished behind Morris for bronze in Sochi, went on to win the silver medal as a score of 128.05 put him narrowly behind Ukraine's new champion Oleksandr Abramenko.
Ilia Burov, competing under the Olympic Athletes from Russia banner, won bronze with a score of 122.17.
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