The victory, secured on his 22nd birthday, made his Olympic triumph all the more memorable.
“People kept telling me ‘happy birthday’, but I didn’t want to remind myself it was my birthday,” he said.
“I just wanted to concentrate on every feature, from the first rail to the last jump. But when the gold medal was finally around my neck, it still felt unbelievable, like a dream,” Su added.
Livigno had endured days of heavy snowfall and strong winds, disrupting the competition schedule.
The slopestyle qualification rounds had been moved forward from Monday to Sunday due to worsening forecasts, while several events originally planned for Tuesday were postponed.
However, by Wednesday, the weather had improved, with clear skies and calm air, creating stable conditions for the final event.
Su seized the lead on his opening run with 82.41 points, building on his advantage in the feature section, where he earned 48.55 points, before adding 33.86 across the jump section to complete a well-balanced performance.
“On the first run, I just wanted to put my heaviest run down. It’s the Olympic final – there’s nothing to save,” he said. “Slopestyle is not just one jump. You have to carry the energy from the first rail to the last jump.”
The gold capped a prolonged period of struggle for Su, who admitted he went through a difficult phase after the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, struggling with injuries and a sense of losing direction.
“There were moments when I felt I had lost my goals,” Su said. “My body was tired, and mentally it was tough. It was not easy at all. But I’m proud I was able to reset myself and come back stronger.”
Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa mounted the closest challenge, posting 82.13 in his first run, while American Jake Canter secured bronze with a 79.36 in the third and final round.
Su followed his opening score with 79.90 in the second run and 82.18 on his final attempt, but his first-run performance held up to secure victory by just 0.28 points.
The win marks Su’s first major international slopestyle title. His previous best results in the discipline at the Winter Olympics and World Championships had been silver medals, including at Beijing 2022 and the 2025 World Championships.
Four years ago in Beijing, Su finished second in slopestyle before capturing gold in big air eight days later.
In Milan, he had already claimed bronze in big air on February 7 before his triumphant slopestyle run.
“When the national anthem played, that was the second time I lost control,” Su said.
“After winning bronze in big air, I told myself only gold would allow our anthem to be played. In an international competition like this, letting the world hear China’s anthem means everything.”
The victory also drew praise from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
FIS President Johan Eliasch described Su’s performance as “phenomenal,” calling the result “huge for the world of skiing.”
“China has so much potential, and this will no doubt propel more investment and more interest in developing the sport,” Eliasch said. (Xinhua)
Edited by Edmond Fong
