China’s Su Yiming wins gold in men’s snowboard big air

Feb. 15 (UPI) — China’s Su Yiming has captured the men’s snowboard big air gold medal in Beijing on Tuesday with silver going to Norway’s Mons Roisland and Canada’s Max Parrot won the bronze.

Su won the Beijing Game’s final snowboarding gold and China’s first ever with a 182.50 score combined from his best two of three runs down the Big Air Shougang course.

The 17-year-old had already won silver in men’s snowboard slopstyle, and added the gold in the big air on the strength of his first two runs that included front and backside 1800s for which he scored a 89.50 and a 93.00.

With the top of the podium all wrapped up, Su used his final jump of the tournament as a victory lap and performed a slow rotation big air move.

Su landed it to cheers from the home crowd as he raised his hands into the air in celebration air.

“This moment is just so special for me and for my family,” Su said following his victory, Olympics.com reported. “We have been dreaming about this moment for a long time and finally it has happened.”

Roisland, who finished seventh in the men’s snowboard slopestyle, was the penultimate rider to jump, landing an impressive 82.50, which when combined with his first 89.25, catapulted him into the silver position and knocking Parrot down to the bronze and Japan’s Hiroaki Kunitake off the podium.

Parrot, who adds the bronze to the men’s snowboard slopestyle gold medal he won earlier in Beijing, fell on his first run but nailed a triple cork 1800 on his second run for a score of 94.00, the second highest score put up that day.

He earned a 76.25 on his third and final run, which put him in second place but ultimately wasn’t enough to keep he there.

“I was extremely bummed after my first run,” he said, according to the Olympics website, adding that he was glad with the final result.