China's Su soars to big air victory in historic World Cup 1-2 finish

Su Yiming looks ready — and right on time, too.

The snowboarding phenom looked to be back to his almost invincible, super-consistent best following an on-and-off year hampered by injuries, when he kicked off preparations for his Olympic title defense with an inspiring season-opening World Cup win on Saturday in Chongli, Hebei province.

The home pride at Beijing 2022, winning gold in big air and silver in slopestyle, last week regained his confidence, his winning edge and, most importantly, his top form, it seemed, stomping a series of jaw-dropping tricks to win his first big air World Cup title in two years at the former Olympic venue.

As stylish as ever, yet showing more control — and spins — in his tricks, Su landed a backside 1980 nose-grab that earned 86.25 points in his first run to open the final with a bang, and followed it up by throwing a tougher switch backside 1980 melon, which scored a field-high 88.25 points to secure the win with a run to spare.

The 21-year-old crowd favorite enjoyed a hero's welcome on his final run at Chongli's Yunding Snow Park, popping off a relaxed frontside 360 as a victory lap, before hugging his younger teammate, and silver medalist, Ge Chunyu to celebrate their one-two podium finish on Saturday.

Ge, a 19-year-old rising star, finished as runner-up with a total 159.50 points from his solid second and third runs, coming from behind to knock Japan's reigning world champion Ryoma Kimata down to third place, and earning his career first podium finish in the series.

Big air involves skiers or snowboarders tackling a vertical drop and performing a variety of flips, spins and grabs before they land. Each finalist gets three attempts, with the combined score of their two best runs being counted.

Saturday's victory marked Su's first Cup win since claiming the Beijing World Cup title in December 2023, proving that he's physically ready for the Milano-Cortina Olympics following the inconsistency of his injury-ravaged 2024-25 season.

"This one means so much to me. It almost means everything. I've been away from the podium for a couple of years. I had a really bad season last year with my injury," Su said after the award ceremony.

"This is definitely the best way for me to kick off the new season. I just want to keep working harder, pushing harder and getting better to be ready for the 2026 Olympics.

"The Olympics are my ultimate goal. My biggest dream is to defend my gold and win glory for my country again. I can't wait," said Su, who's also a legitimate medal contender in slopestyle in Italy.

Su, who was joined on a World Cup podium by a compatriot for the first time, said he felt even prouder for Ge, a training partner and friend.

"I am really grateful that I can put down the tricks I wanted to, and to do it together with this guy next to me, a buddy of mine who just got his first World Cup podium," Su said while patting Ge on the back.

"We've never seen two Chinese riders flying our national flag together on the podium. We did it today. I am happy for both of us and for Chinese snowboarding as a whole."

Competing in his career first World Cup final, Ge was in fifth place going into his third and final run of the session, before his backside 1980 mute earned him a score of 82.50 points from the judges, giving him a one-point edge over his Japanese rival Kimata.

"I've prepared for this meet by training hard overseas, and I've run through the tricks so many times in my head," said Ge. "My performance today sets me up well to reach my Olympic goals at Milano-Cortina."