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Olympic big air champion Su survives scare / Photo: Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV - AFP
NYSE - LSE
Olympic big air champion Su survives scare
Olympic champion Su Yiming survived a major scare in big air qualifying on Thursday as Japan's Hiroto Ogiwara topped the leaderboard on the first day of snowboarding at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
Chinese star Su, who claimed big air gold in Beijing in 2022, recovered from a disastrous first run at Livigno Snow Park to make it through to Saturday's final.
Back-to-back X Games champion Ogiwara came out on top after three runs with a total of 178.5 points, ahead of Italy's Ian Matteoli (174.5).
Japan's Kira Kimura (173.25) was third, with Su in fourth (172.75).
The leading 12 competitors out of the 30 starters -- based on their two best scores from the three runs -- advanced.
Chinese star Su, who also took silver in slopestyle in Beijing, arrived in Italy as one of the favourites after winning both season-opening World Cup events in his home country.
But the 21-year-old was in 24th place after his first run, with a paltry score of 22.
His second run of 87.75 was much stronger and he punched the air after his final run, which garnered 85 points, convinced he had done enough to make it through.
In the big air competition, which made its Olympic debut in 2018, snowboarders launch themselves into the air from a steeply banked jump and complete as many tricks as they can.
K.Evans--SMC
