China’s Qi Guangpu won gold in the men’s freestyle skiing aerials competition at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou on Wednesday and finally got his long-awaited individual Olympic medal after winning silver with the mixed team last week.
Qi put on a commanding performance in the final, delivering a solid back double full-full-double full to win 129 points, quashing the competition.
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenko, the Olympic champion from 2018, could only manage 116.50 points with the same jump to bag silver, while Ilia Burov of the Russian Olympic Committee took his second bronze after Pyeongchang with a back full-full-double full and 114.93 points.
China’s other top favorite Jia Zongyang failed to qualify for the final round after only placing 7th after the first.
Qi went into Wednesday’s competition having already finished first in qualifications on Tuesday. After two good but not excellent jumps on the night, he found himself in fourth place. But this was enough to qualify for the final round.
And wearing a gold helmet that seemed to presage how the evening would end, Qi brought home China’s third medal and second gold in three aerials competitions at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, proving to any doubters the country’s absolute dominance in the sport.
Qi Guangpu of China competes in the men’s freestyle skiing aerials event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, China, February 16, 2022. /CFP
Last week, it was Qi, Jia and Xu Mengtao who won silver in the Olympics’ inaugural mixed team aerials event. Then on Monday night, Xu took home the first-ever Olympic gold medal in women’s aerials for China.
The 31-year-old Qi already had two gold and two silver medals at world championships, on top of two World Cup crystal globes. But an individual Olympic medal was still missing from his trophy cabinet. The closest he had come prior to Wednesday was a fourth place in Sochi in 2014.
“This is my fourth Olympics. I have learned a lot. This is the time for me to win the gold medal in China, my home country,” he said after the competition.
“I am very happy my people are here with me. I can feel they are very happy and excited,” he added of the crowd’s reception, which erupted after he nailed his last jump.
“Every trick in this competition is very important and very impressive. I did my best. During the competition, almost every competitor did their best, so every trick was very wonderful.”
Before Qi, China had only won Olympic gold in men’s aerials one other time, with Han Xiaopeng in 2006 in Torino. But it has medalled at every Winter Games since.
From left: Silver medalist Oleksandr Abramenko of Ukraine, gold medalist Qi Guangpu of China and Ilia Burov of the Russian Olympic Committee stand on the podium after the men’s freestyle skiing aerials event at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, China, February 16, 2022. /CFP
Abramenko, the oldest competitor in Wednesday’s competition at age 33, rejoiced: “It was an amazing competition today. I’m so happy for this silver and really proud of myself that I’ve won the first medal for Ukraine at these Games.”
“The qualifications were hard for me last night, but I went for it and got through to today’s finals. The weather was the same as yesterday, very cold, -20 degrees, but it was OK.”
“I’m really happy that I made my five twists, although the landing was not really good, but enough for second place.”
Burov was equally happy to be on the third step of the podium again after Pyeongchang.
“I’m so happy that I could win a medal again, another bronze after four years… It feels so good,” he said.
