LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Norway’s Tormod Frostad won gold in the men’s freestyle skiing final at the Olympic Games on Tuesday, dethroning compatriot and defending champion Birk Ruud, who finished only eighth in an exceptionally high-scoring nail-biter.
American Mac Forehand took silver, while Matej Svancer from Austria earned bronze and Ruud was left empty-handed at the event under sometimes heavy snow in the mountain resort of Livigno.
With the best two scores from three jumps determining the winner, Frostad recorded a near-perfect 195.5 out of a maximum of 200. Forehand and Svancer recorded 193.25 and 191.25 respectively.
In Beijing 2022, the top three scored much lower scores, with Ruud achieving 187.75 and the other two medalists 183 and 181.
It was the first Olympic victory for the 23-year-old Frostad, who finished fourth in Sunday’s qualifiers and 12th in last week’s slopestyle. He is 18th in the overall World Cup rankings.
Forehand, 24, came into the final in good form after topping the qualifying round and with a big win at the X Games in January. Svancer, 21, surprisingly finished second in the qualifiers.
Lindsey Wasson via Associated Press
Ruud, 25, leaves Milano Cortina with gold in slopestyle, adding to his big air title in 2022. On Tuesday he recorded a high score of 95 in the first run but bungled the next two.
In the air, skiers jump from a steep slope, sometimes backwards, and perform as many flips and turns as possible before landing as cleanly as possible, reaching speeds of more than 60 km/h. Judges assess length, technique, originality and other factors.
It is a high-risk discipline that can easily lead to injuries. During Sunday’s qualifiers, Finn Elias Lajunen had to be taken away on a stretcher and taken to hospital after taking an awkward fall at the end of his first run.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, Editing by Ken Ferris)
