Livigno, Italy, February 18, 2026: China had to wait a long time to finally win gold at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games – and then two gold medals arrived on the same day, Wednesday, February 18.
First, Su Yiming marked his 22nd birthday by winning the men’s snowboard slopestyle. He had earlier won bronze in big air.
Shortly after, veteran Xu Mengtao (CHN) defended her freestyle skiing women’s aerials Olympic crown to become the first back-to-back champion in the discipline.
The Beijing 2022 champion, 36, led the field in the super-six final with 112.90, followed by Danielle Scott (AUS) 102.17 and Shao Qi (CHN), 24, who won bronze with a score of 101.90.
Entering the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, no aerials champion since the event’s debut at Lillehammer 1994 has been able to retain gold.
“To me, this is very meaningful,” Xu said.
“I want to spread this passion with every athlete who loves sport and winter sports. Age should not become a form of shackle on us. It should not hold us back. As long as you’re passionate about what you do and you harbour a dream, you’ll always be in your prime.”
Bronze medal-winner Shao saluted the two oldest women in the field as she too claimed her maiden Olympic medal.
“It feels like a dream. I’m still very emotional now. It’s all a blank. I thought I was fourth, but when I saw I’m actually third… there are no words to describe how I was feeling.”
In the men’s snowboard slopestyle, Su held off Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) and Jake Canter (USA).
Su put down three silky-smooth runs with the 82.41 points he earned on his first run enough to clinch gold with a significant upgrade on his slopestyle silver from Beijing 2022. Hasegawa scored 82.13 for silver and Canter took bronze with 79.36.
The gold was Su’s fourth medal across two Olympic Winter Games to tie him with Alpine Snowboard legend Benjamin Karl (AUT) atop the all-time men’s snowboard medal standings.
“There's a lot of pressure on the shoulders for sure, trying to get this gold for Team China. That's what I've been thinking for so many days after the big air. I'm so lucky to finally get this done on my neck. That means so much,” Su said.
