Freestyle-American Ferreira completes medal collection with halfpipe gold

LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 20 : Alex Ferreira of the United States won gold in the freestyle skiing men's halfpipe final at Milano Cortina on Friday, completing his collection of Olympic medals.

The 31-year-old, widely seen as the favourite in his third Winter Games, won halfpipe bronze in 2022 and silver in 2018.

He took the top podium spot in Livigno with a near-perfect third and final run, which earned 93.75 out of 100.

Ferreira's win consolidated provisional second place for the U.S. in the overall medals table behind Norway and ahead of hosts Italy.

Friday's final was close-run right to the end, with 19-year-old Estonian newcomer Henry Sildaru emerging as the surprise silver medallist with 93 points on his third attempt.

Canada's Brendan Mackay, the 2023 halfpipe world champion, won bronze with the very last run of the event on 91 points.

Mackay's last-gasp effort pushed American Nick Goepper into fourth place, minutes after he suffered a big crash from which he walked away seemingly unscathed.

Another top medal hope, New Zealand's Fin Melville Ives, had a more serious accident in the morning qualifiers and was taken away to hospital on a stretcher.

In halfpipe, riders slide across a U-shaped snow ramp and perform acrobatics in the air. They are awarded points based on height, difficulty, variety of tricks, and other factors.