Japanese wunderkind Kokomo Murase won the bronze medal in the women's snowboard big air event on Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics, with veteran Anna Gasser of Austria defending her gold with an incredible final jump.

Murase was the only one of three Japanese in the final at the Big Air Shougang venue to reach the podium, with two excellent jumps giving her 171.50 points. The 17-year-old became the youngest Japanese female to win a medal at the Winter Olympics.

"It's like a dream and I can't believe it. Thanks to everyone, I am able to be here," said a beaming Murase. "I didn't earn this medal alone. I am grateful to everyone involved."

(From L) Bronze medalist Kokomo Murase of Japan, gold medalist Anna Gasser of Austria and silver medalist Zoi Sadowski Synnott of New Zealand wave after the women's snowboard big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2022, at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Fresh off winning the slopestyle gold, Kiwi Zoi Sadowski Synnott looked to be untouchable with 177.00 until Gasser snatched gold with a clean double cork 1260 in her third hit.

Gasser scored 185.50 while the New Zealander did not improve with her final jump and finished with silver.

Murase started relatively slowly with a 1080 that only brought 80.00 points from the judges but she quickly turned up the volume, putting down a massive frontside 1080 in her second that brought 91.50 from the scorers, the best score of the second round.

In her final jump, she could not stick the landing and failed to improve her score.

Reira Iwabuchi was solid but unable to pull the big scores out on her first two jumps and finished fourth.

Japanese snowboarder Kokomo Murase competes in the women's big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2022, at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

With nothing to lose, she went huge on her final hit and almost landed the first in-competition triple cork in women's big air history. She landed just on the tail of her board and fell but was still swamped by her competitors who congratulated her as she waited for her score.

"I finished fourth again and that makes me sad, but I'm glad I was able to take on the challenge," said Iwabuchi, lamenting her repeat of the fourth-place she achieved in the same event at the 2018 Olympics.

"I was really happy to have so many people support me here."

Iwabuchi later said on her Instagram page that she was competing with several injuries and posted an X-ray image showing a broken bone in her left hand and another image of her right arm with heavy bruising.

Japanese snowboarder Reira Iwabuchi performs a trick on her third run of the women's big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2022, at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

She said in a post-competition interview she broke her hand a day before the final and that she struggled to grab her board on her jumps due to the pain.

Miyabi Onitsuka had a heavy slam on her first jump and had to be assisted off the landing area, walking under her own power but clearly shaken up.

She bravely faced up to her second jump and threw a 1260 but over-rotated on the landing and was punished by the judges, giving her no shot at a medal in a competition in which the riders' best two scores count.

Another heavy crash on her third jump just compounded her pain. She finished in 11th place out of 12 finalists. 

Japanese snowboarder Miyabi Onitsuka falls on landing on her first run in the women's big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2022, at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

In the men's event held in the afternoon, Japan's Hiroaki Kunitake finished fourth after putting together two solid jumps that brought scores of 82.25 and 84.00 for a 166.25 total.

He was in bronze medal position until the competition's penultimate jump when Norwegian Mons Roisland moved into the silver position to bump him off the podium.

"Not everything went well but I had fun," said Kunitake. "I worked really hard these past four years and I think my efforts paid off. But my best efforts landed me in fourth, so I have some more work to do before (the 2026 Olympics in) Italy."

"There's a huge difference between a podium finish and a fourth place finish so it's disappointing, but I think I did all right," he said.

Japanese snowboarder Hiroaki Kunitake competes in the men's big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2022, at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

China's Su Yiming won his second medal of his home games, adding this big air gold to a silver he won in the slopestyle. It is an incredible return for the 17-year-old who was a relative unknown before this season.

Su is the first Chinese to win snowboard gold at an Olympics and the youngest male to win the event.

Canada's Max Parrot took bronze.

Japanese snowboarder Takeru Otsuka competes in the men's big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 15, 2022, at the Big Air Shougang in Beijing. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Japan's other entrant, Takeru Otsuka, had a sniff of a medal after landing an outrageous cab triple cork 1800 in his second jump of the competition, but after a fall in his first attempt and poor landing on his final jump -- a frontside 1800 -- he slid down to ninth.

He has bragging rights, though, as his second hit earned the highest single-jump score of the competition, a 95.00.


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