Three Chinese snowboarders sail into final at FIS Big Air World Cup in Beijing

BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- China's Ge Chunyu, Su Yiming and Zhao Yingxu qualified for the men's snowboard final at the FIS Big Air World Cup in Beijing on Friday.

Riders in the men's event were drawn into two heats, with all six Chinese competitors in heat 2. The top five in each heat earned places in the final.

The 19-year-old Ge improved through his three runs to top the heat with 170.25 points, 2.75 points ahead of New Zealand's Dane Menzies. Olympic champion Su scored 166.50 points to take third place, with Japan's Kira Kimura and Zhao fourth and fifth in heat 2, respectively.

The other three Chinese snowboarders, Yang Wenlong, Liu Haoyu and Jiang Xinjie, failed to reach the final.

Su and Ge had a 1-2 finish in the men's snowboard event at the FIS Big Air World Cup in Chongli last week. "After taking a silver in Chongli, I felt a little bit nervous with some pressure in Beijing. I give myself 80 points today and still need to make improvement," said Ge. "In the final, I hope to create more possibilities."

In men's snowboard heat 1, Japan's Yuto Miyamura finished first with 173.25 points.

Earlier in the day, the top eight riders in the women's big air advanced to the final, while China's Zhang Xiaonan and Jin Rongxi finished 10th and 19th, respectively.

The three-day World Cup will conclude on Saturday, with the freeski and snowboard finals at Beijing's Big Air Shougang.