Zhangjiakou, China, Feb 16 (dpa/GNA) – China’s Qi Guangpu, produced a superb final jump to seize Beijing Olympic gold on Wednesday in the men’s freestyle skiing aerials.
Qi, who also took mixed team silver last week, nailed a back double full-full-double full jump to prompt huge cheers from the Chinese crowd and 129.00 points from the judges.
“This is my fourth Olympics. I have learned a lot,” he said.
“This is the time for me to win the gold medal in China, my home country. I am very happy my people are here with me. I can feel they are very happy and excited.”
The 2013 and 2015 world champions had no real rivals under the floodlights at the Secret Garden Olympic Aerials Course.
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenko, who took gold four years ago, finished second with 116.50 after a slightly botched landing.
It was the first medal for Ukraine in Beijing, bringing joy back home amid a major crisis with Russian troops having amassed at the border.
“It was an amazing competition today. I’m so happy for this silver and really proud of myself that I’ve won the first medal for Ukraine at these Games,” he said.
Russian Ilia Burov repeated his trick from 2018 and sealed bronze.
Home hope Jia Zongyang, who took silver in 2018 and bronze in 2014, failed to finish in the top six to reach the medal final. He had also picked up a mixed silver at Beijing with Qi.
China has long dominated freestyle skiing and has three golds so far in Beijing. Xu Mengtao, part of the mixed team to take silver, won the women’s aerials and American-born Eileen Gu glided to gold in the big air.
GNA