Belle Brockhoff came oh-so-close to a medal in the women’s snowboard cross at the Beijing Winter Olympics, barely missing out on the podium.
The Australian snowboarder made it to the big final, where American Lindsey Jacobellis took gold. Brockhoff finished fourth.
Brockhoff had, by her own admission on Twitter, a pretty bad seeding run, putting her behind the proverbial eight-ball from the start.
“Just laid down an appalling time trials,” she tweeted. “Full send in finals”
Just laid down an appalling time trials hahahah fek. Full send in finals 🔥🔥🔥 @AUSOlympicTeam
— Belle Brockhoff (@bellebrockhoff) February 9, 2022
She came back with a strong second run, putting herself 18th.
She finished second in each of the subsequent races — the top two from each race advanced to the next round — all the way to the final.
Jacobellis won gold, while France’s Chloe Trespeuch got silver and Meryeta Odine of Canada took bronze.
She now takes aim at the mixed team snowboard cross event. With racing partner Jarryd Hughes, Brockhoff is a reigning world champion in mixed team snowboard cross and favored to win a medal at the Winter Olympics.
Brockhoff came out publicly as gay in 2013 ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
