Dylan Walczyk, Rochester native, competes in his first event of 2022 Winter Olympics. Find out how he did

Mat Mlodzinski
[MGN]

BEIJING (WHEC) — Walczyk is from Rochester and is competing in the men’s freestyle skiing moguls for the United States in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Despite being before the Opening Ceremonies, the Winter Olympics have officially started, and one Rochester native is already performing at a high level.

Walczyk, who is competing in his first Olympics, took part in Thursday’s first qualification. In total, 30 skiiers went through the 250 meter long course. Judges give a score based on turns (60%), air (20%) and speed (20%).

Walczyk scored a 75.86 – good for 10th place out of the 30.

RANK NOC NAME SCORE
1 Canada Mikael Kingsbury 81.15
2 Sweden Walter Wallberg 79.12
3 France Benjamin Cavet 78.40
4 Finland Jimi Salonen 76.39
5 USA Cole McDonald 76.27
6 Japan Kosuke Sugimoto 76.26
7 Sweden Ludvig Fjallstorm 76.20
8 Japan Daichi Hara 76.11
9 Finland Olli Penttala 75.95
10 USA Dylan Walczyk 75.86

That means he’ll be back on Saturday, competing in the first finals on Saturday at 6:30 a.m. EST The third finals – which will award a medal – will also be on Saturday at 7:40 a.m. EST.

Walczyk went with his style during the run – not taking any risks but also not making any major mistakes. Some competitors use a strategy to take the risks and go for the big score. For Walczyk’s teammate, that didn’t pay off – Bradley Wilson did not finish and was forced to run again in the second qualification.

The United States, Finland, Japan, and Sweden each put two skiers through after the first qualification.