LIVIGNO (Italy) (AFP) – Kira Kimura won Japan's first-ever men's snowboard big air Olympic gold at the Milan-Cortina Games on Saturday, producing a stunning final run under pressure to edge out compatriot Ryoma Kimata.
Kimura scored a total of 179.50 points to top the podium at Livigno Snow Park after posting an impressive 90.50 in his third and final run.
World champion Kimata finished with 171.50 points while defending Olympic champion Su Yiming of China took bronze with 168.50.
The 21-year-old Kimura, 11th at last year's world championships, topped the leaderboard after an impressive 89.00 in his first run.
But he flunked his second effort, meaning he had to produce something special in his third run -- and he did not disappoint.
Scores from two highest-scoring runs in the three rounds are combined to determine the athlete's overall score.
Japan's Kira Kimura competes in the Olympic men's snowboard big air final at Livigno Snow Park.
"I've devoted a lot of time to snowboarding this year," said Kimura. "My family, coach and everyone around me gave me tremendous support, so I'm truly delighted to have achieved this result and prove the doubters wrong.
"On the second run I didn't quite click and I couldn't land it properly. But I managed to fix that and the third run was clean, so that was good."
Japan and China are the dominant forces in men's big air but Japan had never previously won a Olympic medal of any colour in the discipline since big air made its Olympic debut in 2018.
Kimata said he had no option but to pull out all the stops in his final run in a bid to overtake Kimura.
"At the end, I had no choice but to attempt a trick I had never done before, so I went for it, but it didn't work," he said.
"Honestly, it's frustrating to have a Japanese rider above me, but I couldn't have done any better, and Kira was incredibly skillful."
In the big air event, snowboarders launch themselves into the air from a steeply banked jump and complete as many tricks as they can.