Norway's Ruud strikes gold as weather tests men's slopestyle field at Milan-Cortina

LIVIGNO, Italy -- Birk Ruud of Norway delivered a commanding opening run to capture the men's freestyle skiing slopestyle gold medal Tuesday here at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

Ruud posted 86.28 points on his first attempt and was never overtaken, securing his second Olympic title after winning big air gold at Beijing 2022. The two-time world champion's near-flawless run proved decisive in a final marked by mistakes across the course.

Light snowfall and low cloud reduced visibility, and several skiers struggled to link clean rail sections. Ruud's early score kept him out of reach as conditions remained challenging.

"Winning gold feels amazing. It's something I've really wanted," the 25-year-old Norwegian said. "I'm dedicating this to my family, the team, Norway, and to freeski. Without the sport, I wouldn't have this."

Defending champion Alex Hall of the United States climbed into silver with 85.75 on his second run but could not improve on his final attempt. New Zealand's Luca Harrington, 21, competing in his Olympic debut, earned bronze with 85.15 on his last run.

At Livigno Snow Park, women's moguls opened with the first qualification round. Australia's defending Olympic champion Jakara Anthony led with 81.65 points to advance directly to the final, followed by Americans Elizabeth Lemley and Olivia Giaccio.

"I'm pretty happy with that - a nice, clean qualification run," Anthony said. "It's cool to come in as defending champion."

China's Yang Ya placed 24th and Li Ruilin 26th, both retaining a chance to advance. "I was a bit nervous but also excited," Yang said. "The Olympics feel completely different from the World Cup. Everyone is pushing hard, and the atmosphere is great."

The top 10 of 30 athletes advance directly to the final, with the remainder moving to a second qualification round. The women's moguls second qualifier and final are scheduled for Wednesday.