Winter Olympics 2014: Jamie Nicholls' trick earns plaudits in slopestyle

Jamie Nicholls achieves a switchfrontside spin (EPA)

The Olympics is about seizing the moment. Jamie Nicholls, a 20-year-old snowboarder who learnt his trade in a snow centre in Halifax, grabbed his - and it earned him a place in the slopestyle final.

After a modest first run, Nicholls needed something special to earn one of the four automatic spots in Saturday's final and avoid having to go again in the semi-finals.

On a sunny first morning of competition in the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Nicholls did just that, his switch-frontside spin earning a score of 86.75. "I've never landed that before, it's a new trick for me," he said. "I just wanged it. I've done it in training once last year and I kind of sketched out on it, so to do it in the contest run and put it down like that is just amazing."

Billy Morgan came sixth in the heat and so will contest the semi-finals. Jenny Jones and Aimee Fuller will have to do the same on Sunday.