Go big or go home.
Words Switzerland's Noe Roth lived by in the men's aerials final but weren't enough to win him Olympic gold. That honor went to China's Wang Xindi, who landed a trick with five twists to claim his first Olympic gold.
Wang's win was made even sweeter with his wife Xu Mengtao, who became the first skier in Olympic history to defend her gold in aerials on Wednesday, in attendance. The golden couple are one of several married couples to claim Olympic gold at the same Olympic Games.
Roth claimed silver a little over a point behind Xindi while Li Tianma (CHN) secured bronze with five twists of his own.
Roth opened the final with a bang after landing a Hurricane, American Jeret “Speedy” Peterson's trademark trick with one of the highest degrees of difficulty consisting of three flips and five twists, three of which are performed during the second flip. It's the first cleanly landed Hurricane since 2010, when Peterson landed the trick on his way to Olympic silver.
The reigning world champ scored 135.91 points, over four points ahead of compatriot Pirmin Werner, who had a 2nd-place finish in the final with five twists. Roth is the second skier after Dmytro Kotovskyi (UKR) to land the trick cleanly in competition so far. Werner made his own attempt at the Hurricane in the superfinal but crashed head over heels upon landing.
Chinese skiers won four of six World Cup events this season, nabbing the top three spots in the final FIS World Cup rankings. There was never a question that a Chinese skier would make the Olympic podium. The only question was which one.
Prior to Roth's run, Wang, Li, and Sun Jiaxu (CHN) held the top three spots in prime position of a Chinese sweep. In a run reminiscent of Australia's Danielle Scott's during the women's aerials final, Roth scored just high enough to come in between the trio.
Defending Olympic champion Qi Guangpu (CHN) looked strong in the lead up to the superfinal; however, a crash landing on his five-twist attempt cost him a podium position.
While all three Americans competing in this event advanced to the final, none of them advanced to the superfinal after struggling with their trick landings. Chris Lillis was the highest ranked American, finishing in 8th place, while Derek Krueger and Connor Curran placed 11th and 12th respectively.