Sports
Freestyle skiing: Norway's Ruud wins Olympics’ big air gold
The athlete won the gold a year after losing his father to cancer and injuring his knee.
Oslo: Birk Ruud of Norway spun away with a gold medal in the Olympics’ first men’s freestyle skiing big air event Wednesday, re-emerging as a leader in the extreme sport.
The athlete grabbed the gold a year after losing his father to cancer and injuring his knee.
The 21-year-old’s father, Øivind, died of cancer last April, and Ruud has said the loss pulled his mind away from competitive skiing.
Birk has two Winter X Games big air gold medals and four World Cup wins, but only one since 2019.
His efforts to ramp up for Beijing were interrupted by a knee injury nine weeks ago, and he skipped last month’s Winter X Games to play it safe amid the COVID pandemic.
Ruud went last in the final round with his spot atop the podium already assured. He grabbed a Norwegian flag and held it in his left hand for his final trick, a no-pressure bio 1440.
The Norwegian athletes’ final score of 187.75 was well clear of American silver medalist Colby Stevenson's 183.
Swedish veteran Henrik Harlaut took bronze with 181.