After his golden leaps to Mount Olympus, Big Air winner Birk Ruud's mind wandered.

In honor of his father Oivind, who died of cancer in April 2021, the 21-year-old wore a gold bracelet on his left wrist that he had once been given to him: "I think he would be very happy if he saw how happy I'm here and that I'll achieve my goals."

Ruud decided not to take part in the World Cup last year in order to be able to be with his father.

"I'm very grateful for the time we still had," he said in Beijing: "The family was close, that carried me."

In Beijing Ruud won the Olympic Big Air premiere thanks to outstanding jumps in the first two of the three final rounds with 187.75 points.

Even before his last attempt, the frequent starter was the winner, so he completed his third jump with the state flag in his hand and then hung it over his shoulders in the outrun.

“I was completely in the moment and took the opportunity.

I wanted to put on a show for Norway," said two-time X Games winner Ruud, who had already won the qualifier.

Second was the American Colby Stevenson, who scored a strong 91.00 points after a botched first jump in the third round and moved up to silver with 183.00 points.

The bronze medal was won by the Swede Henrik Harlaut, who at 30 was the oldest participant in the field with 181.00 points.

Silver medalist Stevenson narrowly survived a serious car accident in 2016, after which he had a titanium plate implanted in his skull.

Only eight months later he achieved his first slopestyle world cup victory on the Alpe di Siusi.

In Big Air, the athletes jump over a hill and perform spectacular tricks in the air.

The two jumps with the highest score are counted, the one with the lowest score is discarded.

Ruud, who also competes in slopestyle and halfpipe in Beijing, received the day's highest score of 95.75 points for a jump with five and a half turns in flight (Switch Left Triple 1980 Mute).

German athletes were not at the start in Beijing.

In the women's event, China's superstar Eileen Gu, who was born in California, won her first of up to three possible gold medals on Tuesday.

The only German starter Aliah Delia Eichinger (St. Oswald) missed entering the medal fight in her Olympic debut as 18th.