‘Micro’ does hinterland proud
By Kirra Livingstone
THERE’S no good time to take a fall, but Haylie ‘Micro’ Powell’s injury, sustained only two hours before her first Olympic heat, proved too great a burden as she bowed out of the street skateboard preliminaries at Paris on Sunday (July 28).
The Mooloolah teenager was severely hampered by a suspected elbow fracture, with scans this week to determine the extent of her injuries.
Her mother, Heidi, said the injury occurred during a practice run just hours before her first heat run.
“She’s had X-rays and she has to have an MRI when she wakes up,” Heidi said early Monday morning (July 29).
“Once she got all fixed up and got some medication into her, she got up and did the trick again, it was a good thing she got back up.
“I think it put her off maybe from doing bigger tricks, because she wanted to end on a good note.”
Haylie placed 20th out of 22 in the preliminary finals, scoring 62.19 for her run, and 63.11 for one of her best three tricks. Her final score was 125.30.
Australian compatriot, Chloe Covell finished fourth in the same preliminary and fourth overall, just outside of the medals. Fellow Aussie, Liv Lovelace scored 118.80, finishing 21st in the preliminary.
It was Haylie’s Olympic debut in street skateboarding, with the teenager tenaciously following her dream of Olympic glory since she was 12 years old.
Heidi said although it wasn’t the result she wanted, she finished her heat with her head held high. “She’s in good spirits, they are all her friends out there, they encourage each other and it was about having fun,” Heidi said.
“Haylie got to have a bit of fun, got to experience her friends compete and she cheered them on.”