Canada's Cassie Sharpe stormed to Olympic ski halfpipe gold Tuesday after French rival Marie Martinod wiped out on her final run.
Favourite Sharpe produced some jaw-dropping aerobatics to post a top score of 95.80 on her second effort, celebrated by raising her hands behind her head in a bunny-ear sign as she crossed the line backwards.
Martinod matched the silver she collected in Sochi four years ago with a best of 92.60 after crashing heavily as she went for broke on her final descent.
Meanwhile, Brita Sigourney claimed bronze a further point back after edging out fellow American Annalisa Drew.
In the event, Sharpe's victory was decided the moment Martinod wiped out.
"I just wanted to come out strong with that first run," said the gold medallist, whose opening effort of 94.40 would ultimately have been good enough to win.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet, but it's just an incredible feeling," added the 25-year-old, who draped herself in the Canadian flag as she soaked up the cheers from the crowd after gliding to the finish.
"Just putting all my hard work into this, it's just everything wrapped up into one."
Martinod appeared overjoyed with her silver.
"It's just really cool - I had all this pressure and could deal with it," said the 33-year-old.
"I'm stoked that I could handle it."
Sochi gold medallist Maddie Bowman's hopes of retaining her title were dashed when she suffered a nasty spill on her final run, needing medical attention before limping to the end on one ski in tears.
"I'm really glad I went for it," said the American. "There's so much pressure for returning medallists but I wanted to do the best run of my life, or crash. I'm not here to throw safety runs, I went for it."
Bronze medallist Sigourney said: "Anna (Drew) made me nauseous to my stomach before I dropped, but I just focused on my skiing and I knew what I had to do, and I just cleaned everything up a little bit.
"I actually bailed on what I was supposed to do with my coach," she added. "But I was just feeling it and I just did what I wanted."
Pyeongchang, South Korea | AFP
Sign In
