The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing began with the opening ceremony on February 4 and featured a record 109 events across seven sports. Debuting events included big air freestyle, mixed team events in freestyle skiing aerials, and snowboard cross.
More than 2,800 of the world’s best winter sports athletes participated in these and other events in search of achieving their dreams and standing atop the Olympic podium. Below is a look at five first-time Olympic champions in Beijing.
1. Max Parrot (Canada)
Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot captured his country’s first gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Games with a first-place finish in the men’s slopestyle event. Fellow Canadian Mark McMorris won bronze in the event for the third consecutive Winter Olympics. Su Yiming of China won the silver medal.
Parrot scored an impressive 90.96 points on his second of three runs in the event and finished more than two points ahead of Yiming (88.70) and McMorris (88.53). The result was surprising considering Parrot hadn’t competed in slopestyle World Cup events leading up to the Olympics and has been typically more competitive in the big air event. He also beat cancer less than three years ago.
The 27-year-old snowboarder was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December 2018, following which he underwent a dozen chemotherapy treatments in a six-month period. He returned to snowboarding at the 2019 X Games in August and won gold in the big air event. He earned the Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award in 2021.
“For the past four years, a lot of things have happened with cancer, beating cancer and with COVID, harder to train, traveling, it’s harder than before,” Parrot said after his victory. “So many challenges for the past year. To be up here with the gold means so much.”
2. Birk Ruud (Norway)
Birk Ruud, a 21-year-old Norwegian skier, claimed the first-ever gold medal in the men’s freestyle skiing big air event, which debuted at the 2022 Beijing Games. A two-time X Games gold medal winner in big air, Ruud already had the gold medal secured before his final run but nonetheless perfected a no-pressure bio 1440 while carrying the Norwegian flag in his left hand.
Like Parrot, Ruud had to overcome adversity en route to winning Olympic gold. He experienced a knee injury nine weeks before the start of the Olympics and didn’t compete at the X Games in January. He had also lost his father to cancer a year prior.
Ruud, following his final run, revealed a gold bracelet on his wrist that had been given to him by his father. Tapping his heart and looking into the cameras, he exclaimed, “Papa, you’re with me.”
3. Qi Guangpu (China)
Qi Guangpu of China was the only one of six competitors in the medal round of the men’s ski aerials event to successfully land a quintuple-twisting triple back flip. He earned 129 points for completing the trick and finished 12.5 points ahead of second-place finisher and defending Olympic champion Oleksandr Abramenko of Ukraine. Russia’s Ilia Burov won the bronze medal in the event for the second consecutive Winter Olympics.
Qi’s victory marked the seventh gold medal for China at the Games and represented redemption for the veteran athlete. He has competed in each of the last three Winter Olympics and finished seventh and fourth in 2018 and 2014, respectively.
4. Nathan Chen (United States)
United States figure skater Nathan Chen, like Qi, redeemed himself at the 2022 Beijing Games. The 22-year-old American was a favorite heading into the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. However, he finished fifth in the men’s singles competition after a mistake-riddled short program. Heading into the 2022 Beijing Games, Chen had won six national titles and three world championships and was widely considered among the best male figure skaters on the planet.
After winning a silver medal with the United States in the team event, Chen was nearly flawless during the singles competition and received the highest score from judges in short program history at 113.97. He led all skaters in the free program and finished the competition with a combined 332.60 points, more than 22 ahead of silver medal winner Yuma Kagiyama. Shoma Uno, also of Japan, won the bronze medal.
5. Alessandro Haemmerle (Austria)
Austrian snowboarder Alessandro Haemmerle met expectations as the favorite of the men’s snowboard cross event and won the gold medal at the 2022 Beijing Games. His victory wasn’t without challenges, however.
Haemmerle narrowly finished second in the opening run (the top two finishers advance) but advanced past the quarter- and semi-finals to reach the medal round. There, he competed against Canada’s Eliot Grondin, Italy’s Omar Visintin, and compatriot Julian Lueftner.
Haemmerle trailed Grondin early in the race, but he overcame the 20-year-old Canadian down the stretch. Both snowboarders were neck and neck after the final jump and crossed the finish line seemingly simultaneously. A photo finish determined Haemmerle was the Olympic champion in the event.