Alex Fitch just misses medal at Youth Olympics

A HEAVY fall may have cost Australian Alex Fitch a medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Austria, the snowboarder finishing fourth in the halfpipe event.

Fitch went into the final in fourth position and, after her blistering semi-final run, was looking good to challenge her more fancied rivals.

But a hard fall minutes before the final meant she played it safe with her runs.

“I just wanted to keep it safe and do my safety runs so I got that down and ended up coming fourth so that was pretty good anyway – a great result,” the 16-year-old from the NSW central coast said.

The Games aren’t over for Fitch however, as she still has the women’s slopestyle event starting on Tuesday.

There were some other encouraging results on a busy day for the small Australian winter youth Olympic team.

Jindabyne skier Thomas Waddell finished 11th in the ski halfpipe final only months after first tackling the `pipe – the event has been added to the program for the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.

Sydney figure skater Chantelle Kerry produced a strong performance to be placed 11th after her short program. She skates the long program on Tuesday.

“It was a good skate. I got the triple loop all good so I’m really happy,” Kerry said.

Perth skier Greta Small backed up from her seventh in the super G to finish 13th in the super combined.

“Thirteenth is okay but I have definitely skied a lot better and it was not the result I was after,” Small said. “That’s ski racing though. One day you are skiing awesome and the next day you can struggle for rhythm. You can’t afford to be off your game at this level.”

Townsville Luge rookie Alex Ferlazzo produced two personal best scores for the Igls track to place 19th against his experienced 25-man competition.

NSW biathlete Lachlan Porter was 50th in the 7.5km sprint while Harry Laidlaw failed to complete the slalom component of the super combined.