By Mari Saito
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – American freestyle skier Alex Hall won gold at the men’s slopestyle event on Wednesday at the Beijing Olympics after dominating the entire field by throwing down a spectacular first run that none of his rivals could match.
Hall, who won the slopestyle contest in Mammoth Mountain in January, led the pack from the start, scoring 90.01 for his smooth and controlled starting run.
Fellow American Nicholas Goepper, who won silver in the same event at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 and bronze at Sochi in 2014, took silver after losing momentum in his third and final run and failing to best Hall. Goepper’s best run score of 86.48 earned him second place.
Sweden’s Jesper Tjader won bronze with his top score of 85.35.
Skiers competed under blue skies at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, where air temperatures dropped to -24.3 degrees Celsius (-11.74°F) ahead of the final.
(Reporting by Mari Saito and Winni Zhou; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
