A spectacular performance by Chris Lillis helped propel the United States to victory in the first-ever Olympic freestyle skiing mixed team aerials event on Thursday, leaving favourites China to settle for silver.
China led after the first of three rounds in the four-team medals final but, after Ashley Caldwell kept the U.S. in range, Lillis scored a huge 135 points and Justin Schoenefeld did enough on the third jump to secure the gold medal.
Canada edged out Switzerland for the bronze.
Earlier, the team representing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), the reigning world champions, failed to advance to the medal final, being eliminated alongside Belarus after the first final.
Multiple World Cup and world championship winner Maxim Burov was a notable absentee from the ROC team, though his brother Ilia was on duty, alongside siblings Liubov Nikitina and Stanislav Nikitina.
Belarussian Hanna Huskova, the individual champion in 2018, had the honour of being the first to take to the air in the new Olympic event under lights at the Genting Snow Park.
Switzerland's Pirmin Werner attempted and nailed the most difficult jump of the first final, a degree of difficulty of five and a huge score of 128.
China qualified first for the medal round and led after the opening jump by four-times Olympian Xu Mengtao but Lillis put it all on the line with a level five degree of difficulty Back Double Full-Full-Double Full to put the U.S. in pole position.
China lost ground when Jia Zongyang was forced into a front somersault on landing and scored only 96.2.
Schoenefeld piled on the pressure with a fantastic 114.8 score for a team tally of 338.34.
That left China's Qi Guangpu needing an unlikely 136-pointer for victory and though he achieved huge amplification for 122.17, it left the host nation with the silver on 324.22.
Although mixed team events are becoming more prevalent across Summer and Winter Games, the aerials' USP is that teams consist of three athletes with a minimum of one of each sex - so teams can choose two men or two women.
(Reuters)
Anastasiia Prytkova of the Russian Olympic Committee in action during training at Genting Snow Park, in Zhangjiakou, China, February 10, 2022. (Reuters)
