Japanese world champion Kokomo Murase clinched Olympic gold in the women’s big air competition on Monday as two-time champion Anna Gasser was dethroned.
New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, looking to to top the podium in the event for the first time, had to settle for silver while South Korean teenager Yu Seung-eun won bronze.
Beijing 2022 bronze medallist Murase, 21, led the 12-strong field after the first run at the floodlit Livigno Snow Park, with a score of 89.75.
But Yu was in charge after the second run with total of 171.00 points, with the scores from the two highest-scoring tricks out of three combined to determine the athlete’s overall ranking.
Sadowski-Synnott, who won big air bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018 and silver in Beijing, was looking to go one better at the Milan-Cortina Games.
The 24-year-old reigning Olympic slopestyle champion, who finished top in qualifying for the final, moved into the gold medal position after her final run with a score of 172.25.
But Murase, under huge pressure, overtook her, scoring 89.25 for an overall score of 179.00.
Yu, 18, going last, had the chance to seal a shock gold but fell on her final jump, finishing with bronze.
Austrian veteran Gasser, champion in Pyeongchang and Beijing, was out of the running after scoring poorly in her first two runs.
Murase said she felt “immense joy” at her gold but admitted she had been on tenterhooks until her final run.
“I wasn’t sure I would make it onto the podium until I landed that third run. When I did, the emotions flooded over me,” she said.
In the big air event, snowboarders launch themselves into the air from a steeply banked jump and complete as many tricks as they can.
jw/gj
