Intro:

Torstein Horgmo of Norway led the qualifiers for the men's snowboard slopestyle at the Winter X Games at Aspen in the United States on Thursday.

Script:

The second day of the Winter X Games began on Thursday with the men's snowboard slopestyle elimination competition, where the top eight will advance to the final.

Torstein Horgmo led after the first run.

The 26-year-old Norwegian totalled 93.33 marks to top the leaderboard.

Another Norwegian, Stale Sandbech, was in fifth place after the first run after scoring 87.0.

He moved up two places after his second run in which he scored 91.66.

The leader Horgmo was next to go, but he was unable to improve on his score after a lacklustre performance.

His first round score though, was good enough for him to top the qualifiers.

Canada's big hope for a medal at the forthcoming Winter Olympics, Mark McMorris, was down in 12th after the first run, but he improved significantly the second time around.

McMorris, who was the first to complete a backside triple cork 1440 and is the current double Winter X Games champion in the slopestyle event, will be confident of retaining his title and would be a massive boost ahead of the Sochi Games.

He ended in second place on 92.00 ahead of the final on Saturday.