China’s Su Yiming claimed a second snowboard medal at the Winter Olympics as the teenager won a stunning gold in the men’s big air event in Beijing.
Slopestyle silver medallist Su, 17, scored 182.50 to beat Norway’s Mons Roisland and Canada’s Max Parrot.
Parrot beat Su to slopestyle gold last week but there was controversy over the judging of one of the Canadian’s runs.
China also won silver in the women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle, as Eileen Gu added her second medal of the Games.
The 18-year-old, known as the host nation’s ‘Snow Princess’, followed up her big air triumph as she finished behind Switzerland’s 2018 silver medallist Mathilde Gremaud.
Big air bronze medallist Gremaud was the 12th and final qualifier but clinched the title by 0.33 points from Gu, with Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru taking the bronze.
Great Britain’s Kirsty Muir and Katie Summerhayes placed eighth and ninth respectively.
“I go into every contest aiming to win but never expecting to, so every time I compete, I’m here to win and I’m here to do my best. But more than anything I’m here to have fun,” said Gu, who will also contest the halfpipe from Thursday.
She added: “I feel like this experience has made me love skiing even more and for that I’m so, so grateful. I literally just found a passion and made it my job. How many people get to say that?”
Gremaud’s success was the first of two golds for Switzerland on day 11 in Beijing, as alpine skier Corinne Suter produced a blistering run to win the women’s downhill.
World downhill champion Suter denied Italy a one-two on the final podium as she completed the course in one minute 31.87 seconds – 16 seconds faster than defending Olympic champion Sofia Goggia.
It was a remarkable achievement for Goggia given she suffered a serious knee injury in a crash at a World Cup race on 23 January, which left her with a partial cruciate ligament injury and a small fracture of the fibula.
“I worked on my fear and I just wanted to be here at the Olympic Games,” said Goggia.
“I had to pick myself back up in one way or another and I put all the effort that I could into this, she added. “The reason why I have so much effort is because I wanted an outcome like this one today.”
At one point Italy were on for a clean sweep of the medals, but Nadia Delgado finished with the bronze and compatriot Elena Curtoni was pushed down to fifth by Germany’s Kira Weidle.
Elsewhere, Austria snowboarder Anna Gasser successfully defended her big air title in the women’s event.
The 30-year-old trailed New Zealand’s slopestyle champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott by 0.25 going into the third and final run.
However, competing at her third Games, Gasser delivered a stunning final jump to score 95.50 and take her combined total to 185.50 at Shougang Park.
Sadowski-Synnott, 20, could not respond with her final attempt and had to settle for the silver – 8.5 points behind – with Japan’s 17-year-old Kokomo Murase in bronze.
“It is going to take a while to sink in, especially as I didn’t expect it at all today,” said Gasser, who would not rule out going for a third successive title in 2026.
“I told myself if I can show my best snow riding I’ll be happy, whether it’s a medal or not,” she added. “The gold medal is just the cherry on top of the cake.”
In the men’s biathlon 4×7.5km relay, Johannes Thingnes Boe won his third gold – and fourth medal – of the 2022 Games as reigning world champions Norway rallied from sixth position after two legs to improve on their 2018 silver.
Boe, who has also won gold in the mixed relay and sprint in Beijing, came in third on the penultimate leg before Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen capitalised on a disastrous final leg for leaders the Russian Olympic Committee.
The ROC ended up in bronze position, as France finished second, 27.4 seconds behind Norway.
There was another gold for Norway in speed skating’s men’s team pursuit – with Canada winning the women’s competition.
Norway retained their title, beating ROC by 2.38 seconds in the A final, while the United States took bronze against the Netherlands.
Canada’s women posted a new Olympic record time of two minutes 53.44 seconds as opposition Japan suffered a fall. The Netherlands finished third.
Source: bbc
