LIVIGNO, Italy -- Snowboarder Su Yiming delivered China its first gold medal of the Milan Cortina Olympics by winning the men's slopestyle final Wednesday while also celebrating his 22nd birthday.
Su collected his fourth career medal in his second Games. His first run earned him a score of 82.41 points that proved enough after no rival was able to better it. He was the only one of the 12 finalists to complete his three runs through the course's rails and jumps without any falls or major errors.
"There's no better gift for myself for my 22nd birthday," Su said. "I'm just really, truly proud of myself."
A former child actor, Su burst onto the Olympic stage when he won gold in big air and silver in slopestyle at the 2022 Beijing Games. Last week, he took bronze in big air at the Livigno snowboarding park, and he now has given China two of its current total of seven medals in Italy.
The top two medals ended up being decided early on after Su and silver medalist Taiga Hasegawa leapt to the top of the scoreboard with their first of three runs through the rails and jumps of the slopestyle course. Even so, their scores in the low 80s left the door open to the other 10 finalists.
Su cried tears, apparently of emotional release, after his final attempt, when he didn't improve on his first run. He had to watch seven more riders take their last shot from the bottom of the course. But they all either fell or came up short with their scores, and the gold was his.
"I just started realizing this is my last run of the Milan Olympics," Su said. "It just came up to my head, and then I started to realize today was my birthday, my parents are here to supporting me, and my coaches, everybody out here supporting me ... the emotions just came, and I just can't help to stop crying."
Hasegawa was second with his best score of 82.13, adding to Japan's haul of seven snowboarding medals in Livigno.
American rider Jake Canter, 22, claimed the bronze in his first Games.
Mark McMorris of Canada, a three-time bronze medalist, finished eighth two weeks after being concussed in training. He had a hard fall on his third run but bounced back up.
McMorris' day got off to a bad start when he crashed in practice.
"Broke a board, completely cranked my neck," he said. "It's been an absolute war."
And it didn't get much better for the four-time Olympian, who a hard fall on his last run of the final.
"Super proud to be in there, disappointed with the way my runs came together today," the 32-year-old McMorris said. "I've had pretty much 90% of my career go my way in all the big events, this event not being one of them, and it's tough because I work super hard."
The Livigno slopestyle course consists of three rail elements and three jumps. Judges score riders on their creativity, execution of tricks and routine as a whole. Riders got three chances to perform their routines with only their best score counting.
