Norway's Ruud turns gray day into Olympic gold medal in slopestyle skiing

LIVIGNO, Italy — The new Olympic slopestyle skiing champion, Birk Ruud, smiled while he showed off his gold medal. Spread across the inside of his bottom lip, a still-fresh smear of blood.

That he gashed himself while falling off a rail and landing facedown during an otherwise-meaningless victory run seemed practically perfect for Tuesday, a day of spills and spinouts in which one of this sport's most important participants — the sun — never showed up.

''I was just trying to go beat myself up again,'' Ruud said.

An hour or so earlier, on his first run of the day, the 25-year-old from Norway was one of the few who found his bearings amid the gray skies that, as silver medalist Alex Hall of the United States said, ''made me have to go by feel.''

Add the terrible sightlines to the fact that none of the 12 skiers on this chilly mountian were going for second place — or fifth — and what resulted was a day full of crashes, with a few moments of beauty mixed in. All the skiers had three chances to make it down the mountain. Of those 36 runs, only eight ended without a fall.

''There's no visibility and you can't see the landing, so it's hard to differentiate the landing from the sky,'' explained Hall's American teammate, Mac Forehand, who struggled on the rails and came in 11th. ''That kind of causes complications when you're flipping through the air doing doubles and triples.''

Give them credit for trying.

''I had no choice but to do it, for sure,'' he said. ''That's what this sport is all about. It's about showing your best skiing to the people. It's not always about the result.''

Along those lines, American Konnor Ralph botched the rails section in his third and final attempt on his way to ninth place. He threw a triple-cork 1800 spin to finish the run anyway — dangerous on any day, amazing on this one.

''Everyone came into today thinking the other dudes are so good, I'm going to have to try my hardest possible run,'' Hall said. ''When you try your hardest possible run, even with three runs, you don't always put it down.''

Third-place finisher Luca Harrington of New Zealand said ''today was a battle, and it was a battle for all of us."

Hall's silver medal goes with the gold he won four years ago in Beijing, even though he said everything he tried this time was more difficult. It was also the first medal of any color for the U.S. over a week-plus of action in snowboarding and freestyle skiing, a pair of sports where they used to set the pace.

''He had one or two things he could have done more on the jumps, but it was such a battle to get a full top-to-bottom going together," U.S. freeski coach Dave Euler said. "We're just so stoked to see him land that run,''

After watching eight of the 11 skiers before him fall in the first round, Ruud said he felt a sense of relief after landing his run, which turned out to be the winner. This gold in Italy goes with the big air title he won at the Beijing Games four years ago.

In the third and final round, seven skiers before him had one final chance to deliver a performance that could knock Ruud off the top of the podium. Every one of them fell. Then, Ruud figured if you beat them, you can join them, too.

''I was trying to go all-in,'' he explained of a victory run he refused to water down, even if it meant nothing.

But he spun off the rail, landed facedown and lost a ski before snapping it back on and making it down the hill safely. A few minutes later, bloodied but not beaten, Ruud was wearing the gold medal.