| SAUZE D'OULX, Italy (Reuters) -- Dale | | | | high quality final under the floodlights on the |
| Begg-Smith confirmed his Olympic billing to snatch | | | | artificial snow. |
| Australia's first medal of the Torino Games by | | | | Several riders found tremendous height off the air |
| winning the men's freestyle skiing moguls on | | | | bumps and managed to cross their skis while |
| Wednesday. | | | | performing tricks with Dale Begg-Smith producing |
| The Canadian-born event favorite, 21, topped | | | | a 720 degree off-axis spin to win. |
| qualifying to go last in the final but he coped with | | | | Begg-Smith, whose brother Jason was knocked |
| the pressure to earn 26.77 points out of 30 from | | | | out in qualifying earlier, was born in Vancouver |
| the judges. | | | | and was part of the Canadian development squad. |
| Ex-world champion Mikko Ronkainen of Finland set | | | | However, he moved to Australia with his brother |
| the pace with an exhilarating run rewarded with | | | | and gained citizenship in order to work with |
| silver and Toby Dawson of the United States | | | | respected coach Steve Desovich. |
| took bronze. | | | | American contender Jeremy Bloom was hoping to |
| It was Australia's third gold in Winter Olympics | | | | grab an Olympic medal before he jets home for |
| history following their breakthrough in Salt Lake | | | | the NFL Combine, a training camp for American |
| City in 2002. | | | | Footballers crawling with big league scouts, but he |
| "It's awesome. I obviously didn't see the other | | | | could only finish sixth. |
| runs so I didn't know if it was a gold medal run | | | | Canadian fans, deprived of supporting Dale |
| but it was definitely one of my best," Begg-Smith | | | | Begg-Smith, at least had Marc-Andre Moreau's |
| told reporters. | | | | fourth place to celebrate. Unheralded Swede |
| Ronkainen was in the gold medal position until | | | | Jesper Bjoernlund finished fifth. |
| World Cup leader Begg-Smith stole his glory in a | | | | |