Canada’s Brady Leman won gold in the men’s freestyle ski cross at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea on Wednesday.
Leman took home the gold while fellow Canadian Kevin Drury finished in fourth and Dave Duncan, 35, finished eighth overall.
The 31-year-old Calgary native won Canada’s first Olympic medal in men’s ski cross since the event debuted at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s something I have been working so hard for, for 10-plus years now, especially the last four after coming fourth in Sochi,” Leman said of his win. “To battle back from that and stay strong and confident in myself is huge, and I’m just so proud right now.”
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READ MORE: Canada’s Chris Del Bosco in horrific ski cross crash at 2018 Winter Olympics
Leman came up shy of the podium at the 2014 Sochi Games, finishing fourth in the final. The skier missed out of the Vancouver Games after crashing during a training run.
“This blows them out of the water,” Leman said of the South Korea Games. “The other two were in a sense always disappointing. I broke my leg the day before competition in Vancouver and then just missing the podium in Sochi was kind of bittersweet. Fourth at the Games is a big accomplishment, but at the same time you’re the first guy who doesn’t get a medal.”
In 2016, Leman captured gold at the X Games and went on to finish second overall in the 2016-17 World Cup standings.
Fellow teammate Chris Del Bosco was in a horrific crash earlier in Wednesday’s event. The Montreal native was attempting a final push on the last jump in the hope of moving on to the quarterfinals.
The 35-year-old went airborne on the final jump, landing hard on his right side. The freestyle skier was on the ground for several minutes before being skied off the course on a stretcher.
The Canadian Olympic Committee said Del Bosco was taken to hospital with team doctors.
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