By Lisa Richwine
LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 10 - Freestyle skier Birk Ruud of Norway earned the gold medal in the men's slopestyle event on Tuesday after an impeccable first run at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
Alex Hall, the gold medallist four years ago in Beijing, won silver under cloudy skies on the slopes in the mountain town of Livigno to extend Team USA's remarkable run in the event over the years.
Luca Harrington of New Zealand claimed bronze as one of the youngest competitors at 21.
The slopestyle event features skiers who slide across rails and perform aerial tricks to impress the judges with difficulty and originality. The best score from each skier's three runs determines the rankings.
Ruud's superb first run put him at the top of the leaderboard from the start. Hall tried to catch him but fell backward after coming off a rail in his third run.
Final scores came in at 86.28 for Ruud, 85.75 for Hall and 85.15 for Harrington.
Ruud, 25, pumped his fists and hugged the other medallists as he took the podium. Hall, 27, clapped his hands and smiled.
Team USA have earned a slopestyle medal in every Olympics since the event was introduced to the schedule in 2014.
Jesper Tjader, the bronze medallist in Beijing, was in medal contention going into his third run of the day but crash-landed off a rail, sending one of his skies flying.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
