Su Yiming celebrated his twenty second birthday by successful the males’s snowboard slopestyle closing on Wednesday to offer China its first gold medal of the Milano Cortina Olympics. Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa took silver, constructing on the file haul for Japanese snowboarders on the 2026 Video games.
Jake Canter earned bronze for the USA.
Su, the slopestyle silver medallist in Beijing 4 years in the past, began with a powerful first run for a rating of 82.41 beneath sunny skies in the Alpine city of Livigno and couldn’t be caught.
The Chinese language rider ripped off his hat and clapped his arms when he realized he had gained gold. Su shed tears as his coaches and rivals congratulated him.
“Let’s go,” yelled Canter.
The slopestyle contest had been delayed by a day due to a snowstorm on Tuesday.
Su gained bronze within the males’s massive air final week, behind Japan’s Kira Kimura and Ryoma Kimata, having claimed the title 4 years in the past. The 22-year-old stated he felt “loopy strain” in that occasion because the defending gold medalist.
Hasegawa additionally had his greatest run in his first try, scoring 82.13 factors. Kimata completed eleventh with 72.80 factors. Kimura was unable to make the ultimate out of the qualification spherical, ending 14th, with solely the highest 12 transferring on.
In slopestyle, riders navigate rails and different obstacles and carry out aerial tips to impress the judges with issue and originality. The most effective rating from three runs determines the winner.
Mark McMorris, who has three Olympic slopestyle bronze medals, completed eighth after crashing on two of his three runs.
The oldest competitor in the sphere at 32, the Canadian suffered a concussion at the beginning of his fourth Video games and needed to skip the large air occasion.
