Olympics: Snowboarder Kimura Wins Japan's 1st Gold Of Milan Cortina Games
LIVIGNO (Italy), Jan 8 (Bernama-Kyodo) -- Japanese Kira Kimura won the men's snowboarding big air event at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Saturday to earn Japan its first gold medal of the 2026 Winter Games.
He scored 179.50 points with a first jump of 89.00 and a third attempt of 90.50 to claim his first Olympic medal and the first for a Japanese man in the big air event in games history, according to Kyodo News.
Reigning world champion Ryoma Kimata made it a Japan one-two at Livigno Snow Park, scoring 171.50. China's Su Yiming, the 2022 Olympic gold medalist in the event, was third with 168.50.
"This year I spent a huge amount of time focused on snowboarding...my family, my coach and everyone around me gave me such great support. I'm really happy that I was able to repay them with this kind of result," said Kimura, who earned gold by landing two near-flawless 1980 backside tricks.
"On my second jump, the timing of my takeoff didn't quite hit, and I couldn't land properly. But I was able to make the necessary adjustments, and I'm glad I managed to put down a clean jump on my third," he added.
Kimata said he is proud of his performance, but being beaten by one of his countrymen was disappointing.
"Having another Japanese rider beat me is frustrating, if I'm being honest. But at the same time, I don't think I could have ridden any better than that. Kira was incredible," said Kimata.
Of the other Japanese, former world champion Taiga Hasegawa finished 11th after failing to log a big score. His best came in his first jump, which earned him 71.75.
Hiroto Ogiwara, who topped qualifying on Thursday, was unable to cleanly land a jump and finished with a total of just 34.75.
Kimura now turns his attention to the slopestyle event, starting on Feb 16.
"Of course, I'm aiming for a gold medal in slopestyle too, but more than anything, I just want to focus on delivering what I'm capable of and performing to the best of my ability," he said.
-- BERNAMA-KYODO
