Norway's Oystein Braaten used a 95.00-point opening run to win the men's freestyle skiing slopestyle on Sunday at the Pyeongchang Olympics.

The near-flawless opener, capped by massive back-to-back switch double cork 1440s on the final two jumps, gave the 22-year-old his first Olympic medal and broke the United States' grip on the event.

American rider Nick Goepper came to the party late after missing on his first two runs, scoring 93.60 on his last attempt that included a huge final-air 1440 of his own.

The third run by Goepper, who won Sochi bronze in 2014 as part of a U.S. podium sweep, pushed him past Alex Beaulieu-Marchand by 1.20 points, with the Canadian taking bronze.

"First run I did what I planned to do, what I wanted to do as well as I could, and it held up against all the great runs today," said Braaten, who with this gold finally converted the promise he has shown at the X Games, where he has filled each of the podium's three steps the past three years.

"Just being a part of a final like this was amazing...The level was so high, so many of the guys I have looked up to and inspired me every day to go out and ride."

Sweden's Oscar Wester, whose event-best 95.40 points led the standings after the qualification round, finished in 11th with a top three-run score of just 62.00 in the final.

Japan's lone entrant, 16-year-old Taisei Yamamoto, did not reach the final. In the qualification round held earlier Sunday, he had a best-run score of 70.40 which was only good enough for 20th, eight spots short of qualifying for the final.