Photo: Li Hao/GT

Amid waves of cheers, applauses, and tears from the audience on site and behind screens, Chinese teenage snowboarder Su Yiming bagged gold in the men's snowboard big air final at 2022 Winter Olympics at Big Air Shougang in Beijing on Tuesday. It's the 6th gold and the 12th medal for Team China at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, breaking the country's best record at previous Winter Games with the most gold and the most medals ever.

China now ranks the fifth in the Winter Olympic medal table with six golds, four silvers, and two bronzes, breaking the country's best record during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics of 5 golds among a total of 11 medals.

With Tuesday marking the Lantern Festival for Chinese people and only three days to go for Su's 18th birthday, the General Administration of Sport congratulated him for becoming China's youngest Winter Olympic champion, adding that "This is the best coming-of-age gift for himself! This is the best Lantern Festival gift for all Chinese people!"

In Tuesday's game, Su scored 89.5 points in his first round and 93 points in the second round of the final, bringing his combined score to 182.5, soaring to the first place as thrilled audiences burst out applauding for his incredible success.  

As Su received his gold Bing Dwen Dwen mascot after the games, the broadcast commentator said, in a choking voice, that Su has "told the world with his actions that 'You guys can never catch up with me!'" 

"Like millions of other Chinese youngsters, Su has brought his passion, spirit and vitality to the world," the commentator said.

At least 12 topics related to Su's achievement are trending on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo as of press time. Netizens are flooding Weibo with heart, flower, crying face as well as the Chinese flag emojis to congratulate him. 

"As an old Chinese saying goes, 'Heroes always appear when they are still young ever since ancient times,'" commented one netizen. Others jokingly dubbed the big air final "The one in which Su already claimed champion even before the event ended."

Others recalled the men's snowboard slopestyle final held on February 7 where Su finished in the second place - a result from the controversial scoring that may have prevented Su from winning gold.

Head judge of snowboarding previously admitted that there was a mistake in judging the game. During Canadian's Max Parrot's championship run, he made a turnover and grabbed his knee instead of his snowboard in one trick, which was not caught by the judges. This, according to the head judge, should have resulted in 3 points being taken away, which should have made Su from China the winner. 

"This time Su has proved by action that he is the winner without doubt. The gold that should have belonged to us Chinese is now back in our hands," said a netizen.

Norway's Mons Roisland claimed silver with a score of 171.75 and Canada's Max Parrot snatched bronze with a score of 170.25.

Before the games, one of Su's strongest rival was Parrot, who beat Su in the men's snowboard slopestyle final with a best score of 90.96 points in the second round, which is 2.26 points higher than Su's best score. He also came in the first place during the big air qualification run.

Mark McMorris, 28, was another strong opponent of Su in the Tuesday's game. McMorris got the third place following Su in the men's snowboard slopestyle final. He won a bronze medal at both the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. However, he failed to deliver a satisfactory performance at Tuesday's big air event.

Su smoothly skied his way into the big air final with a score of 155.25 in the qualification run held on Monday, ranking the fifth among 29 participants.

At the post-game interview on Monday, Su said, both to himself and his friend Gu Ailing Eileen, that as they will both enter the final on Tuesday, he had hoped that she can perform well in the game but the most important thing of all is to enjoy and have fun. 

Gu, a super idol among the Chinese and viewers from all over the world, has given excellent performances at the Beijing Winter Games by claiming gold in the women's freeski big air and the silver medal in Tuesday's women's freeski slopestyle final with a score of 86.23. 

As the youngest snowboarder to have represented China in the slopestyle, the 17-year-old genius Su made history by winning a silver medal in the final with 88.70 points at the Beijing Winter Olympics, scoring the best result in the history of the snowboard competition for the Chinese team. 

Global Times 

17-year-old Chinese athlete Su Yiming won the 6th gold medal for Team China in the men's snowboard big air at Beijing 2022 on Tue. He made history by bagging one gold and one silver at this year's Olympics. Graphic: Xu Zihe/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT

Photo:Li Hao/GT