LIVIGNO, Italy — This is the biggest yet. With multiple contestants performing some of the biggest stunts ever in this competition, it feels like this could be anyone’s gold medal.
Such was the intensity of the men’s freeski Big Air competition at Livigno Ski Park on Tuesday night.
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But in the end, Norway’s Tormod Frosta barely managed to emerge.
In any other competition, Frosta’s two gold-medal-winning tricks—the super-stylish nose butter and tail butter and the creature spin move—would have stunned the entire arena.
In this match, the American team’s Mike’s final forehand hit scored 98.25 points, almost perfect, and for a moment, it looked like it was going to steal the victory.
Instead, Frosta had the final say, responding with a trick that was considered sleeker and more technical, even though it didn’t have as much spin. The judgment was 98.50, 2.50 points higher than the forehand.
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Frosta’s first two tricks were rated 95.25 and 97.00, which is about as close to a perfect score as you can get in the competition, with the scores for the best two tricks from three attempts added together.
But the forehand wasn’t too far behind heading into the final round after landing a triple cork 2160 (three off-axis flips with six full rotations) and a nose-butter triple cork 1980, both of which earned 95.00 points from the judges.
With a bronze medal guaranteed, his only chance to steal gold or claim silver was a spectacular stunt at the end. He finished with an incredible finish – a nose butter triple cork 2160 with a safety grab. Only this time it wasn’t enough.
Defending gold medalist Birk Ruud of Norway also won the slopestyle gold medal at this Olympics, but he only completed one of his three moves and did not become the final factor.
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How high is the standard of this event? In the first round, six of the 12 skiers scored 90 points or above, including 21-year-old Troy Podmilsak of Park City, Utah, who in 1980 performed an incredible transitional triple cork, but only in the middle of the pack. He finished fourth after the third sprint, but it wasn’t enough for a podium finish.
The third American finalist, Connor Ralph, finished fifth.
