Xu Mengtao of China celebrates after the freestyle skiing women's aerials final of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, North China's Hebei province, Feb 14, 2022. [Photo by Wei Xiaohao/chinadaily.com.cn]

Xu received 108.61 points for her final jump with three somersaults, which had a degree of difficulty of 4.293－the highest for female athletes. Hanna Huskova of Belarus took the silver with 107.95 points, followed by Megan Nick of the United States with 93.76.

After successfully landing her final jump, Xu knew she had nailed it and screamed into the cold air, with the temperature hovering around minus 23 C.

Soon afterward, Ashley Caldwell of the US, who had been ranked first after the first round of the final and was the last athlete to jump－made a mistake on her landing and finished in fourth place.

"The payoff of hard work may come late, but it will come for sure," Xu, 31, said emotionally. "It's been a long journey, and I always have faith in myself."