Olympics-Freestyle-Norway's Ruud grabs gold in men's slopestyle as rivals stumble

By Lisa Richwine

LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Freestyle skier Birk Ruud of Norway earned the gold medal in the men's slopestyle event on Tuesday after an impeccable first run on a course that befuddled many of his competitors 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 Alpine mountain town of Livigno. His feat extended Team USA's remarkable medal streak in slopestyle over the years.

Luca Harrington of New Zealand, one of the younger competitors at age 21, claimed bronze in the contest, which forces skiers to 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.

Much of the field struggled from the start, with eight of the 12 skiers falling in the first round.

Rudd, however, put down a superb first run that lofted him to the top of the leaderboard. Hall tried to catch him but fell backward after coming off a rail on his third attempt.

Final scores came in at 86.28 for Ruud, 85.75 for Hall and 85.15 for Harrington.

The 25-year-old Ruud, who earned gold in big air in Beijing and will have a chance to defend that title starting Sunday, pumped his fists and hugged the other medallists as he took the podium.

"It was kind of the last piece to the collection, with big air and slopestyle," Ruud said of his new medal. "It's a beautiful feeling and a special moment. I'll try to take it in."

Hall clapped his hands and smiled and said he was pleased with his result. Team USA have earned a slopestyle medal in every Olympics since the event was introduced to the schedule in 2014.

The 27-year-old Hall had wobbled on his first attempt on Tuesday so knew he had to rebound going forward. He executed well on his second run, one he said he had never fully completed in practice. It was the effort he needed to reach the podium.

"I was so stoked to land that run," Hall said. "It was tricky out there for sure, just a little bit flat light, so definitely hard to see on the jumps."

"I knew I had to go all out," Hall added. "The talent's just so incredible."

Jesper Tjader, holder of the bronze in Beijing, was in medal contention going into his third run of the day but crash-landed off a rail, sending one of his skis flying. Tjader finished in fifth place.