Aerials, Men

For the third consecutive Olympics, the qualifying round was led by a Belarussian, this time Aleksey Grishin. In second in the qualifying was the defending champion Eric Bergoust (USA), who was the favorite. Also highly considered was the Czech Aleš Valenta, who was known for his high degree of difficulty, and who had placed fourth at the 1998 Winter Olympics. The first round of the final was very close, with only five points separating the top seven aerialists. Bergoust led with 130.38, after a back full-double full-full (bFdFF), with Grishin second and Valenta sixth. In the second round, Valenta successfully completed a back-double full-double full-full, which had only been landed three times previously, all by him. As the last jumper, Bergoust still had a chance, but he fell back on his landing, placing last in that round, and last among the finalists. American Joe Pack, a Mormon competing in Salt Lake City, won the silver medal. He had been third in the first jump, and only sixth in the second round, but his consistency moved him up to second place.