China's Xu ends long wait for aerials gold
China's Xu Mengtao finally claimed her elusive Olympic gold medal when she triumphed in a dramatic final of the freestyle skiing women's aerials on home snow on Monday, producing a spectacular jump as most of her main rivals faltered.
Xu, the Sochi silver medallist and World Cup leader, nailed a 108.61 effort to edge ahead of defending champion Hanna Huskova of Belarus, with Megan Nick taking a surprise bronze for the United States.
Xu then had to wait as Ashley Caldwell, the most impressive performer in qualifying, attempted to beat her score, only for the American to crash-land and spark wild celebrations among the Chinese supporters.
It was China's first victory in the event after five silver medals since it was added to the Games programme in 1994.
Caldwell finished fourth, one place ahead of world champion and favourite Laura Peel of Australia who had a final to forget.
On a bitterly cold night, a gusting, northerly wind brought the temperature down to -23 Celsius and made jumping difficult - especially as so many contenders were opting for difficult triples.
Caldwell, full of confidence after her mixed team gold on Thursday, was the best of the 12 with a 105.60 score. The format meant the top six advanced to the final with all previous scores wiped out – with just one more jump each to decide the medals.
Huskova was the lowest-scorer of the six but roared out of the blocks with 107.95 points – then sat back to watch and wait.
Peel went all out for a triple but had another terrible landing and China's Kong Fanyu tried the same jump, with an even more spectacular head-first wipeout.
Xu, however, bucked the trend and made no mistake with her high-risk Back Full Full Full, scoring 108.61, and Caldwell could not respond.
Xu, 31, won the world title in 2013 but then became the nearly-woman of the event, as, dogged by a series of serious knee and back injuries, she had to settle for three successive world bronzes and sixth, second and ninth positions in her three previous Olympic appearances.
When the heavily-favoured Chinese were edged out by the US in last-week’s team event despite Xu giving them a healthy lead with her opening run, it appeared the gold might remain elusive.
"We were crying after the team silver and team were talking again today about all the silvers for the women but now I’m finally able to create history and feel so lucky to secure the gold for China in China," Xu said.
"It's been a hard and very emotional journey but I never lost faith or my drive and passion for the sport and I want to thank everybody who kept faith in me - I could never have made it here without that support."
Asked what she was thinking as she let our a huge roar after nailing her landing, she said: "I was just so exhilarated, so happy. I wanted that moment to last forever."
Huskova's medal was Belarus’s second of the Games after Anton Smolski’s biathlon silver and maintained the country's impressive run after winning gold in 2014 and 2018.
No more Games for Americans Hubbell and Donohue
American ice dancers Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue bent down and kissed the Olympic rings on the ice at the Capital Indoor Stadium after winning a bronze medal on Monday.
Having finished fourth in 2018 in Pyeongchang, Hubbell, 30, and Donohue, 31, savoured their emotional podium finish and were in a jovial mood later, laughing heartily when asked if they would compete at the 2026 Olympics.
The pair were told that Britons Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were 36 and 35 years old when they won Olympic ice dancing bronze in 1994 but the Americans insisted they will retire as planned in June.
"I'm not saying that physically it's not possible, but no," Hubbell told reporters. "Maybe we'll have a very successful transition into a career where we could be alongside some of our coaches and be here in another capacity, but on the Olympic ice, it's not happening."
Donohue agreed with his partner, though he did acknowledge the performance of US team mates Lindsey Jacobellis and Nick Baumgartner who won the snowboard cross mixed team gold in Beijing at the ages of 36 and 40.
"I did see that our snowboarding gold medallists' combined age was like 73 or something like that," he said.
The ice dance bronze was Hubbell and Donohue's second Olympic medal after they opened their campaign in Beijing by winning the rhythm dance in the team event, helping the US to silver.
"When I finished, I just was grateful for being here," said Hubbell. "It was just a moment I think for both of us to say goodbye to Olympic ice, and thank this journey that's created the people that we are today."
Hubbell joked about trying out a different sport.
"Maybe we'll come back as curlers," she said. "We could do a mixed curling team."
