PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) – Hanna Huskova won the Olympic women’s aerials to give Belarus their first gold medal of at the Pyeongchang Games on Friday.
Xin Zhang and Kong Fanyu of China took silver and bronze respectively.
The final consisted of three rounds, with the three lowest scoring athletes eliminated at each stage. The highest score from the final round won gold.
Once it reached the final six, reigning champion Alla Tsuper went for it all as she attempted the most difficult jump of the night – the back full-full-full – but crumpled on landing and ended up finishing fourth.
This opened the door for Huskova, who scored 96.14 to edge out Zhang and secure a second consecutive Olympics gold for Belarus in the women’s aerials.
Despite a relatively poor score of 70.14, Kong was able to clinch the bronze medal as all three other finalists fell on landing.