Tyler Nicholson knows that he nailed his final jump in the big air competition.
The problem was his heat was stacked.
He finished in seventh in qualifying in the second heat, and with only the top six moving on to the Big Air final, the 22-year-old North Bay native’s 2018 Olympics came to an end as he failed to qualify for Friday’s final.
See related: Amazing effort but heartbreak for Tyler Nicholson
The bitter pill to swallow was, that if he had done the very same in the first heat, he would have qualified in the top three.
“I didn’t make the cut, I’m really bummed not to make the big air finals,” said Nicholson on Instagram.
“Really hyped to be part of the heaviest qualifier I have ever seen. Props to all the boys who made it.”
Nicholson’s Olympic highlight was early in the Winter Games when he qualified for the final in Men’s Slopestyle and finished in seventh overall, with teammates Max Parrot and Mark McMorris winning silver and bronze respectively.
See related: Canada medals but Nicholson comes up short
Nicholson’s Mom was disappointed but very proud the way her son handled such a difficult situation at his first Olympics.
“He has learned to not spend energy on things he can’t control,” stated his mother Rosemary to BayToday.ca.
“He can only do his best and keep striving for what he has for goals in his life. Olympics was one and now that’s over.”
Tyler is trying to keep a positive attitude and will stick around to participate in the closing ceremonies, as he was unable to attend the opening ceremonies because qualifying for the slopestyle event took place early the following morning.
After the Olympics closing ceremony, he will head to Whistler, B.C. to do some backcountry riding and then he plans to do better at the U.S. Open event in Vail, Colorado in the next couple of weeks.
