The 2016 FIS Aerials World Cup winner, the 29-year-old Abramenko sealed gold with a Back Full-Full-Double Full that earned him 128.51 points. Performing the same jump and the last of the competition, Jia scored just 0.46 points fewer to add a silver to the bronze he won at Sochi 2014. That outcome will have come as something of a disappointment to the Chinese freestyler, who topped the standings in Final 2 and had his sights set on winning a first aerials gold for his country since Han Xiaopeng at Turin 2006.
World champion Jonathon Lillis of the USA missed the cut for the six-man final, having top-scored in the previous day’s qualifying with 127.44 points, while Sochi 2014 silver medallist David Morris of Australia went out in Final 1. Competing in his fourth Olympics, 33-year-old defending Olympic champion Anton Kushnir of Belarus failed to qualify for the finals altogether.
The first Ukrainian male athlete to collect an Olympic Winter Games gold medal, Abramenko said he had tried his winning jump only 15 times previously, adding: “It was one of the best jumps of my life.”
