Abramenko Golden in Korea

Ukraine’s Oleksandr Abramenko made Olympic history last month by becoming Ukraine’s first-ever male Winter Olympic champion when he topped the podium in Aerials at the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. “It’s really unbelievable. I hoped to take a medal, but I won gold,” he said shortly after winning. “I’m really happy about this, it’s the first medal in freestyle skiing for Ukraine, so I’m just really happy. I don’t believe right now that I’ve won gold.”
It was fourth-time’s-a-charm for the 2015-16 World Cup champion, beating his previous best Olympic finish of sixth in Sochi in 2014. He qualified for the final six comfortably by finishing third and fourth on his first two runs of the finals, setting the stage for his epic final jump. A beautiful Back Full-Full-Double Full that earned him 128.51 points, just 0.46 points more than Jia Zongyang, the Chinese favourite that attempted the same jump. “When I saw the last score by the Chinese competitor, I realised I had won the gold medal and it was crazy,” remembers Abramenko. “I have dreamed about this moment from my young years, when I started doing freestyle skiing, and right now it’s come true.”