Troy Murphy of Bethel picked a pretty good time to have his best moguls run of the season.
Murphy scored 80.95 points – the fourth-best total in the qualifying round of the men’s moguls competition Friday at the PyeongChang Olympics.
That means Murphy, who is ranked 12th in the world, will compete in Monday’s finals, which will begin at 7 a.m.
Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, ranked first in the world, led qualifying with a score of 86.07.
Murphy was the only American in the top 10.
Murphy, the seventh starter, had a fantastic and nearly flawless run. His time was 25.40 seconds and he grabbed big air in his second jump, a back full. When he finished, he pumped his arms, knowing he had a good run. As he waited for the score, he gave the television camera a thumbs up and said, “Hey everybody.”
Murphy scored 14.51 points for his time, 14.74 for his air and 51.7 for his turns.
Murphy’s previous best score this year was 80.57, when he finished third in Thaiwoo, China, in late December.
There were 30 skiers in the qualifying round, with the top 10 advancing to the finals. The other 20 will compete in a second qualifying round, at 5:30 a.m. Monday, with the top 10 from that group also advancing to the finals.
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