Walter Wallberg stuns favourite Mikael Kingsbury to win moguls gold at Winter Olympics

Sweden's Walter Wallberg clinched gold in the men's freestyle moguls event at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, defeating champion and favourite Mikael Kingsbury of Canada who took silver.

Wallberg, 21, was ecstatic as he landed a Cork 1080 in a lightning-fast run that lasted less than 24 seconds. The Swedish skier looked surprised when he saw that the score from his final run had put him on top of the podium ahead of Kingsbury.

"I knew I did a great run but I knew Mikael did a good run as well, I wasn't sure it would be the best run... I was super happy when I saw the scores," Wallberg said.

The performance earned him a final score of 83.23 as he edged his Canadian rival. Wallberg's win, four years after he finished 21st at Pyeongchang 2018, was a surprise as Kingsbury, the most decorated moguls skier in history, had been tipped to extend his winning streak. Kingsbury's gold in Pyeongchang followed a silver at the Sochi Games in 2014.

The Canadian congratulated Wallberg for getting to "sit on the throne today".

"He deserves it, I told him welcome to the club," said Kingsbury.

China kicked off their home Winter Olympics in style when they claimed the short track speed skating mixed-team relay title.

Gold medallists Team China pose during the mixed team relay final flower ceremony at the Capital Indoor Stadium. Getty

Ren Ziwei, Wu Dajing, Fan Kexin and Qu Chunyu clocked two minutes 37.348 seconds over 2,000 metres in the final to beat Italy and Hungary, second and third respectively, at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

Wu, who won China's only gold medal at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, beat Italy's Pietro Sighel to the finish line by 0.016 seconds, or half a skate blade, while Hungary took bronze.

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