Su joins Gu with Olympic big air gold for host China

BEIJING (AP) — Su Yiming gave host China its second gold medal at Big Air Shougang, matching Eileen Gu with a stunning show Tuesday in front of fans at the repurposed steel mill and winning the country’s first top prize in Olympic snowboarding.

The 17-year-old child actor-turned-rider followed up his unexpected silver in slopestyle — he would’ve taken gold if not for a judging blunder — by joining Gu in cementing his celebrity status with a big air gold. Gu won the freestyle skiing best-trick contest here last week on her final jump, and the celebration briefly broke Chinese social media website Weibo.

There was hardly any drama for Su’s victory. He started the competition with consecutive 1800s — five spins — first completing the trick going forward, then backward. He led by 17.5 points entering the final round, and nobody got close in Round 3.

Su went off casually on his last jump, then held his hands to his head amid an ovation from a roughly half-capacity crowd at Big Air Shougang — as many as could squeeze into the venue amid coronavirus restrictions.

Slopestyle gold medalist Max Parrot of Canada and Japanese rider Takeru Otsuka each landed one higher-scoring trick than Su in the first two rounds, but neither paired it with a second big jump in the three-round competition.

Dutch rider Mons Roisland was the last competitor with a realistic chance of catching Su. He played it safe with a 1620, locking up the silver, and setting up a victory lap for Su. Parrot earned bronze.

Su, an aspiring actor who landed a part in an action film, “The Taking of Tiger Mountain,” has rapidly taken snowboarding by storm, winning a World Cup event in Colorado in December to become the first Chinese rider with a World Cup medal. Under the tutelage of Japanese coach Yasuhiro Sato, he has emerged quickly as a force.

The slopestyle silver solidified that, and that medal would have gone gold if judges had noticed Parrot missing a grab on his first jump. It was the first of several scoring mishaps at snowboarding events in the Beijing Games, spurring an outpouring of frustration from the field.

There didn’t appear to be any judging drama Tuesday. Su’s lead after two rounds was so commanding that competitors appeared to play it safe on their third jumps, jockeying instead to simply crack the podium.

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