China's Su Yiming celebrated his 22nd birthday by upgrading his Beijing silver to Milan Cortina gold in snowboard slopestyle Wednesday morning in Italy, earning the fourth Olympic medal of his career and his second podium of the 2026 Winter Games after a Day 1 big air bronze.
American Jake Canter seized bronze with a clutch run, nailing a double underflip off the cannon and a huge final-jump backside 1980 to score a 79.36. Japan's Taiga Hasegawa, the 2023 world champion in big air, took silver with an 82.13, not far behind Su's winning 82.41.
"I'm speechless right now. My dream came true," Su said. "That's what I've been trying, what I've been dreaming of so hard for the past four years. I feel really grateful and lucky to be here representing China and competing with all the best riders."
PyeongChang Olympic champion Red Gerard of the U.S. came up just short of a podium return. Sitting 4th after two runs, the Coloradan (via Ohio) went down on a second-jump backside 1800 after trying to add an extra rotation. His first-run 76.60 held up for 6th.
"It’s always a bummer to not make the podium, but I'm feeling all right," Gerard said. "Jake has been working as hard as anyone out there, if not way harder, so it's really refreshing for him to be on the podium."
Seventeen-year-old American Ollie Martin put together solid runs but couldn't clean up the opening rail feature, finishing 9th with a third-run 75.36.
Canadian Mark McMorris fell twice on frontside 1800 attempts and ended up 8th with a 75.50 — his first Olympic podium miss in the event's history. Winter X Games' most decorated athlete (25 medals) had won three straight Olympic bronzes at Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022.
"I'm so thankful I was able to be out there," said the 32-year-old. "I was starting to taste it, I was riding well, I felt good, I knew I had what it takes. But I wasn't able to just put all the pieces together, and that always stings, it hurts the heart.
"But there's a lot of support out here, I've felt a lot of support. I've had a lot of Olympic Games go my way. It's been a hell of a run, I'm thankful to be in the final, but it's tough."
Canter won his first World Cup last month in Aspen. This Olympic bronze returns the U.S. to the men's slopestyle podium after missing in 2022 following back-to-back golds in the first two runnings of the event.
When asked if they're returning for 2030, Gerard and McMorris gave differing yet similarly indirect answers.
"I think so," Gerard said. "I don't feel like I'm losing it by any means. I don't feel like my gap is too far away. It wasn't the exact result I was hoping for, but in a lot of senses, I think I still have more to give. I'll take a year to think about it, but most likely, I'd like to try to make it to one more."
"That's a lot of water to go under the bridge, but I don't have an answer right now," McMorris said. "I'm having a ton of fun still doing it, I'm learning new things, I'm pushing hard. We'll see."
Men's Snowboard Slopestyle Final
🥇 Su Yiming, China (82.41)
🥈 Taiga Hasegawa, Japan (82.13)
🥉 Jake Canter, United States (79.36)
4. Marcus Kleveland, Norway (78.96)
5. Romain Allemand, France (76.95)
6. Red Gerard, United States (76.60)
7. Dane Menzies, New Zealand (76.10)
8. Mark McMorris, Canada (75.50)
9. Ollie Martin, United States (75.36)
10. Cameron Spalding, Canada (75.13)
11. Ryoma Kimata, Japan (72.80)
12. Mons Roisland, Norway (46.50)