Beijing (AP) – China’s hope Eileen Gu has ensured the host country’s third Olympic victory at the Winter Games in Beijing in the Big Air competition in ski freestyle.
The 18-year-old even temporarily catapulted China to the top of the medal table. Gu is the daughter of an American and a Chinese who immigrated to the USA and has been competing for China since 2019.
With her third and last jump, Gu ousted the French Tess Ledeux, who had been leading up to that point, to silver in the discipline, which was held for the first time at the Winter Games. Ledeux showed her weakest jump in the final round, which fell out of the ranking of the two best attempts. Gu, on the other hand, did an extremely difficult jump with four and a half twists in the air.
Bronze went to Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland on her 22nd birthday, who won silver in the other freestyle discipline, slopestyle, in Pyeongchang four years ago. The best German ski freestyler Aliah Delia Eichinger was eliminated in the qualification as 18th.
Most of the attention was focused on San Francisco-born Gu, who made the final of the top 12 despite falling in qualifying. It is not clear if she has acquired citizenship from China, where she is also called “Snow Princess” in the media. You have to be careful who you entrust your secrets to, Gu told the New York Times recently.
The freestyle skiing and snowboarding competitions will be held on the site of a former steel mill in Beijing. The area is about 50 minutes by bus west of the Olympic Stadium. The events are all about performing tricks after jumping down a ramp in the air and then landing safely. There are also frequent falls.