Winter Olympics 2022 - Qi Guangpu wins gold in tense, error-strewn men's aerials final

China’s dominance of the individual aerials in Beijing has been confirmed, with Qi Guangpu winning the men’s event, after his compatriot Xu Mengtao took the women’s title. Twelve athletes started the final at the Genting Snow Park, with Guangpu Qi and his team-mate, Zongyang Jia, arriving as the early favourites having made it through as the best two qualifiers.

Ad/> The first two rounds were all about deciding which six competitors would progress as the super-finalists to a one jump shootout to decide where the medals would be going. /> Beijing 2022'Incredible' — Morgan analyses Hall's slopestyle gold medal performanceAN HOUR AGO A different manoeuver was required of each athlete for each jump they made throughout the final with their performances marked across three categories: air, form and landing.

Justin Schoenefeld — who was part of the USA team to take gold in the first ever team aerials event in Beijing — set an early marker of 120.36, giving the rest of the field a target to aim at. Swiss jumper Pirmin Werner rose to Schoenefeld’s early challenge by carding a score of 126.24 in the first round, while Christian Lillis continued his superb form in Beijing with 125.67.

Ukrainian Oleksandr Okipniuk put in a performance which was ever so eye-catching, with a solid take off and magnificent skill in the air but as he landed, his weight over the tips of his skis threw him into a front flip. As magnificent as it looked, that cost him points, to leave him with 91.40.

Okipniuk’s compatriot and defending champion Oleksandr Abramenko enjoyed a steady start to card 123.53. Guangpu and Zongyang lived up to their early billing as favourites with first round jumps which kept them firmly in the mix to progress in the top six, but