BEIJING: Birk Ruud led from the start to win Beijing Olympic gold in the men's freeski Big Air final on Wednesday -- even carrying a Norwegian flag in his hand for his third jump.

The day after Eileen Gu needed a stunning final leap to land gold for China in the women's event, Ruud dominated the men's field from the opening round.

The 21-year-old landed a stunning opening leap of five and a half rotations in the air for a near-perfect score of 95.75 points.

He had built up such a commanding lead that he had his country's flag with him for his third jump on his way to securing gold.

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Burk, who also won the Olympic test event in 2019 and was the top-ranked qualifier on Monday, finished with a winning tally of 187.75.

Colby Stevenson of the USA took silver at 183 points behind with bronze going to Henrik Harlaut of Sweden, who scored 181.