Winter Olympics: Carlos Garcia Knight misses out on medal in men's snowboard big air finals

Carlos Garcia Knight of New Zealand crashes during the Men's Big Air Final. Photo / Getty

Snowboarder Carlos Garcia Knight has failed to add to New Zealand's medal tally after crashing in his first two attempts in the snowboard big air finals.

Garcia Knight, who began the event as the number one qualifier, crashed out of medal contention after failing to land a trick in his first two of the three rounds in the final.

The 20-year-old was hoping to add to New Zealand's historic medal tally at the PyeongChang games after teenagers Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous both claimed bronze medals on Thursday.

But the Kiwi snowboarder wasn't able to land the switch backside 1620, the trick which earned him the highest score in the qualifiers.

"It's been a tough day really," Garcia Knight said after the event.

"I feel like I was riding well in training. I had to balance two tricks this time. So I had the switch back 16 and then the frontside triple 14 which was going to be the second trick.

"There was a lot of going on. I hadn't done that trick, the frontside 14, many times. So it was taking a lot of energy."

Despite the disappointing performance, Garcia Knight said he was proud of New Zealand's Winter Olympic games and thanked everyone back home for their support.

"I'm not super excited with how it all went but I'm so proud with our Winter Olympics. It's been huge.

"Everyone back home has been sending me so much love and to hear that alone is worth it enough. To have everyone back home excited is awesome. I can't even express that enough.

"I'm so excited for the next one already. I would've thought after the Olympics I would've been burnt out and over it but far out it's the complete opposite. That's pretty exciting on its own."

Canadian Sebastien Toutant claimed the gold medal after racking up a combined score 174.25.

Toutant edged out American Kyle Mack and Britain's Billy Morgan who earned the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Garcia Knight ended up in 11th place.

The Kiwi snowboarding star also came agonisingly close to a medal in the men's snowboard slopestyle, where he finished fifth.

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