His path to Olympic gold was made easier when the clear favourite Maxim Burov of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) missed out on two chances of qualifying.

He was not even the highest-seeded Chinese skier, with Sun Jiaxu expected to be the likeliest medallist from the home nation.

Instead, one of his closest challengers was Ilya Burov, Maxim's older brother.

Qi performed a back double full-full-double full to score 129.00, a total that could not be matched.

It marked the first time he individually made the podium, having competed at three other Games prior, with a best result of fourth at Sochi 2014.

He also won silver earlier at Beijing 2022 in the mixed team aerials.

Qi's victory matched Xu Mengtao's in the women's event yesterday, where she beat Belarus' Hanna Huskova and American Megan Nick to the gold.

"This is my fourth Olympics. I have learned a lot," said Qi. 

"This is the time for me to win the gold medal in China, my home country. 

"I am very happy my people are here with me. 

"I can feel they are very happy and excited.

Every trick in this competition is very important and very impressive, I did my best. 

"During the competition, almost every competitor did their best, so every trick was very wonderful."

Oleksandr Abramenko won Ukraine's first medal of the Games when he collected the silver, unable to defend his gold medal from four years ago.

He landed a back double full-full-double full for a score of 116.50.

Burov was able to ensure a medal would go the way of his family, matching his result at Pyeongchang 2018.

He performed a back full-full-double full for a score of 114.93 to complete the podium.

Pirmin Werner of Switzerland was fourth, in front of Americans Justin Schoenefeld and Christopher Lillis who took fifth and sixth.