Freestyle skiing: Norway's Ruud wins Olympics’ big air gold 

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.  

09 Feb -Day 5️⃣#freestyleskiing - Men's Freeski Big Air#Gold BIRK RUUD -NOR

?Congratulations to BIRK RUUD!
The first Olympic gold in Men's Freeski Big Air! #Beijing2022 #Olympics #BingDwenDwen#TogetherForASharedFuture

?GettyImages pic.twitter.com/Rh86YhVqOW

— Beijing 2022 (@Beijing2022) February 9, 2022

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.