Qi Guangpu of China finally flipped his way onto an Olympic podium in men’s aerials by winning a gold medal after near misses in Sochi and Pyeongchang.
He landed a quintuple-twisting triple backflip in the medal round when five of his six competitors tried the same trick. Qi was the only one to do it cleanly.
He clinched gold with a score of 129.00, easily beating defending champion Oleksandr Abramenko of Ukraine's silver-worthy 116.50 score. Russia's Ilya Burov, the 2018 defending bronze medalist, clinched another bronze with a 114.93.
Two Americans, New York's Chris Lillis and Justin Schoenefeld, both first-time Olympians, placed sixth and fifth, respectively, in the finals.
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China also won gold in the women's aerials event. Watch their gold-winning runs and see more highlights from the aerial competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Qi seals men's aerials gold with quintuple-twisting triple
Qi Guangpu of China edged defending Olympic champion Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR) to capture victory in the men's aerials for his first gold medal. ROC's Ilya Burov finished with bronze.
Qi Guangpu, Jia Zongyang lead men's aerials qualifying
Qi Guangpu and Jia Zongyang of China netted the highest scores in Qualification 1 of men's aerials, while Ukraine's Oleksandr Okipniuk topped Qualification 2.
USA wins mixed team aerials on Lillis' quin-twisting triple
Chris Lillis' massive quintuple-twisting triple in Final 2 helped lead him and teammates Ashley Caldwell and Justin Schoenefeld to a stunning victory over China for mixed team aerials gold in the event's Olympic debut.
Xu exuberant winning China's first women's aerials gold
Xu Mengtao had an emotional celebration after the gold medal run in women's aerials that gave her China's first win in that Olympic event.
