February 09, (THEWILL) – The men’s freestyle skiing large air event, which made its Winter Olympics debut in Beijing, has been won by Birk Ruud, who survived a terrible auto accident in May 2016.
The Norwegian’s two-run score of 187.75 was the best in the 12-person field, with silver and bronze going to Colby Stevenson (183.00) of the United States and Henrik Harlaut of Sweden, respectively.
Ruud won qualifying and then continued to set the standard in the finals. On his first go-around, he had the single-best solo run, clocking in at 95.75.
Ruud followed it up with 92 points in his second run, and his third and final run was rendered meaningless as he earned the gold medal with a score of 187.75 points.
In big air, the 21-year-old has won four X Games medals (two gold, two silver). At the 2019 World Championships, he also won silver in slopestyle. He now has an Olympic gold medal under his belt.
Stevenson overcame a difficult first run (34.75) with back-to-back races over 90 points (91.75, 91.25) to finish in second place. Stevenson has now won his second silver medal in a major event, having finished second in slopestyle at the 2021 World Championships.
Prior to this period, both Ruud and Stevenson had gone through personal difficulties. Ruud’s father died of cancer ten months earlier, and Stevenson sustained several catastrophic head and neck injuries in a vehicle accident in May 2016.
“Stevenson shattered his skull in 30 places, his neck was ‘crushed like an accordion,’ along with a broken eye socket and ribs. He was placed in a medically-induced coma for three days,” as reports relayed last December when he qualified to compete.
But, the pair were brilliant in the competition’s Olympic debut, which demonstrated the essence of the Olympics.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
