Republic of Ireland's Chef de Mission Stephen Martin has insisted that 16-year-old Seamus O'Connor will secure a place in the final of the slopestyle snowboarding event at the Winter Olympics.

The USA-born Irish snowboarder finished 13th in the second heat in Sochi on Thursday.

"Seamus was very upbeat after his two runs," the Irish Examiner quotes Martin as saying. "He is still very hopeful that he can make the final. He knows it will be a tough ask, but he has always said he wasn't coming out here to enjoy the scenery. He will be going all out.

"There probably was an element of nerves in his first run. His timing wasn't perfect so he had to put his hand down in the snow to slow himself down. In the second run then he came so close to nailing that triple cork. We thought he had it, but just at the end he fell. What came from this morning is that everyone recognises this young man is an exceptionally talented snowboarder.

"When he finished his second run, he was instantly mobbed by around 100 people, it was crazy. He had some physio on his hip afterwards and he is feeling no ill-effects of the falls. He has watched back the video of his two runs with his coach Sam Wilkinson and they were identifying areas where he can improve for Saturday."

There are four more places left for the final event.