Dale Begg-Smith, Australia's best gold medal hope at the Winter Olympics, has had to settle for silver in the men's moguls competition in Vancouver.
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After qualifying fourth for the finals this morning at Vancouver's Cypress Mountain, the defending Olympic champion stood out with a superb run, scoring 26.58 to move ahead of two Canadians, Vincent Marquis and Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau.
But the second-last competitor, Canada's Alexandre Bilodeau surpassed Begg-Smith, scoring 26.75, as the local fans erupted.
And when Frenchman Guilbaut Colas - who had qualified first for the final - failed to reel in the Bilodeau by finishing sixth, Begg-Smith narrowly missed defending his Olympic title.Bilodeau became the first Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal on home soil with a score of 26.75 points.
American Bryon Wilson was third.The host nation had failed to top the podium at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.Begg-Smith becomes only the third Australian after short-track speedskater Steven Bradbury and aerial skier Alisa Camplin to win two Winter Olympics medals.
Earlier, Begg-Smith needed only to make the top-20 scores to make the final. He was aiming to become the first-ever back-to-back winner of the title.The Canadian-born star is completing a remarkable comeback after damaging his knee last year, but went into the event as favourite after five top-two finishes in World Cup events in January.
Fellow Australian competitor Ramone Cooper failed to qualify, scoring 21.11 and just managing to stay upright after two near-falls.The third-last competitor to race, Begg-Smith scored 25.06, and was solid in each category.
Moguls is scored on time, and judges rating of turns and aerial jumps to come up with an overall total.
Canadian rival Bilodeau recorded 25.48 to rank second, whilst the leading qualifying score was France's Guilbaut Colas with 25.93.
Scores from qualifying are not carried through to this afternoon's final, in which Begg-Smith, Bilodeau and Swede Jesper Bjoernlund are expected to contend.
