Nana Takagi was last in the Japanese trio, which was only a few seconds away from a long-awaited Olympic gold.
But the sport showed itself from its cruelest side when Takagi lost his balance and slid straight into the rim.
The gold turned into silver for Japan, who instead got to see Canada at the top of the podium.
- We are still thinking, did this really happen ?, says Canada's Isabelle Weidemann to the news agency AP.
Takagi got to his feet again and crossed the finish line far behind his two teammates - and was in tears afterwards.
See the clip in the player above.