Xu Mengtao of China landed a jump with three somersaults to win Olympic gold in women's aerials on a frigid evening.
Xu becomes the first woman from China to win the Olympic ski aerials event. She instantly knew her run was a gold-medal worthy jump, too, pointing up at the sky soon after landing Monday night.
She later leaned back and screamed into the cold air as the temperature hovered around minus-10 (minus-23 Celsius). Xu scored a 108.61 to edge defending champion Hanna Huskova of Belarus. American Megan Nick was a surprise bronze medalist, holding off teammate Ashley Caldwell.
The 28-year-old Caldwell was the last to go after posting the highest score over the first two jumps of the final, which trimmed the field to six. She hit her back on the snow while landing her final jump.
Caldwell won a gold medal last week in the Olympic debut of mixed team aerials.
