Su Yiming tops men's big air competition at FIS Snowboard World Cup in Zhangjiakou

The FIS Snowboard World Cup season got underway at the Genting Snow Park in the Chinese city of Zhangjiakou, with home favorite Su Yiming claiming the men's big air title after scoring 174.50 points. His compatriot Ge Chunyu finished as runner-up, with Japan's Ryoma Kimata rounding out the podium in third place.

The first big air World Cup event of the season took place under challenging conditions highlighted by strong winds, but Su remained composed. After dominating the qualifying rounds, China's 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics gold medalist maintained his momentum in the final to close out the victory.

Each rider was allotted three runs, with the best two scores from differing angles combining to account for the final result.

Su, who was the eighth snowboarder to compete, opened with a clean inward 1980 tail-grab to earn 86.25 points – the only mark above 80 in the first round.

The 21-year-old then completed a switch inward 1980 on his second run, once again achieving the highest score of the round with 88.25 points.

After clinching the gold medal in advance with a total of 174.50 points, Su enjoyed a relaxed victory lap on his final run. His 19-year-old countryman Ge sealed silver, while Kimata bowed out with bronze.