Han Xiaopeng of China came from nowhere to win the gold medal in the freestyle skiing men's aerial event here on Thursday, just one day after his women compatriots suffered a near-miss from the top podium at the Turin Winter Olympics.

　　The 22-year-old Han scored a total of 250.77 points from two almost flawless jumps to upset a field of big names including current World Cup leader Kyle Nissen and Alexei Girshin of Belarus,the bronze medalist at the last Games in Salt Lake City.

　　Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus took the silver with 248.68 points,while the bronze went to Vladimir Lebedev of Russia on 246.76 points. Girshin was fourth and Nissen finished a disappointing fifth.

　　“I never thought this would happen,” said Han after winning thegold. “I feel like I'm in a dream.”

　　“I was so happy to win China its first ever Olympic gold medal in snow events,” said Han, who switched to the aerial event from acrobatics in 1995.