Sildaru, Blunck win gold in ski halfpipe at worlds in Utah

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:56 p.m. ET

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Teenager Kelly Sildaru of Estonia is quickly making up for lost time in her return from a knee injury, winning the women's ski halfpipe competition at the world championships.

With a big final run Saturday, Sildaru surpassed Cassie Sharpe of Canada for gold. American Brita Sigourney of Carmel, California, earned bronze.

Sildaru, who turns 17 on Feb. 17, missed the Pyeongchang Games because of an ACL injury suffered in a training crash months before the Olympics. She recently won three medals at the Winter X Games — gold in slopestyle, silver in halfpipe and bronze in big air.

In the men's competition, American Aaron Blunck defended his world title by edging Kevin Rolland of France. Noah Bowman of Canada earned bronze while two-time Olympic gold medalist David Wise took seventh.