Wang emulates wife Xu to win Aerials gold

Two days after watching his wife Xu Mengtao (CHN) win Women’s Aerials gold, Wang Xindi (CHN) ensured that he will be bringing Men’s Aerials gold back to their Shenyang home.

It was third time lucky for the three-time Olympian, who was third to drop in the super-six final at Livigno Aerials & Moguls Park on Friday.

He delivered a clean back double full-double full-full for 132.60 points then faced an anxious wait. Noe Roth (SUI), last to drop, prevented a Chinese sweep, settling for silver (131.58) as Li Tianma (CHN) took bronze (123.93).

All the medalists opted to perform the same trick, which has a difficulty level of 5.100.

Defending Olympic champion Qi Guangpu (CHN) finished sixth with 81.00 points from his back double full-full-double full effort. That was the jump built on a 5.100 difficulty score that he landed for 129.00 points at Beijing 2022 but the difficulty and execution levels have since progressed.

Compatriot and 2025/26 Crystal Globe winner Sun Jiaxu (CHN) was fourth (123.42), missing out on a podium finish by just 0.51 points.

Pirmin Werner (SUI), fourth at Beijing 2022, endured disappointment again after finishing fifth on 99.32 points. He attempted the hardest jump in the super final, a back full-triple full-full that has a difficulty level of 5.200.

Werner started the day in promising fashion, topping the 24-man Qualification 1 on 122.17 points, with Quinn Dehlinger (USA), silver medalist at the last two World Championships, missing out with injury.

Wang, third in Qualification 1 (118.10), was number one when it mattered most. His biggest title came after Xu, widely regarded as the greatest aerialist of all time, retained her crown at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games on Wednesday.

Two-time defending world champion Roth, with a Swiss flag on his mouthguard, twice showed that he had the bit between his teeth. He squeezed through to the 12-man finals with 111.06 points in Qualification 2, then set the tone in Final 1, nailing a 131.56-point effort with the Hurricane.

And after Werner’s Hurricane attempt left three Chinese in the provisional podium, Roth rose to the occasion to earn Switzerland’s first Aerials medal since the event made its Olympic debut at Lillehammer 1994.

Li, second in the 2025/26 season World Cup standings, also celebrated his first Olympic medal.