‘Exhausted’ Eileen Gu qualifies for freeski halfpipe ultimate after overcoming first-run crash
Reigning Olympic champion Eileen Gu mentioned she is “exhausted” after recovering from a fall to qualify for the ladies’s freestyle snowboarding halfpipe ultimate, her third and ultimate occasion.
China’s Gu has already received two silver medals in slopestyle and large air on the Milan Cortina Olympics, making her essentially the most adorned girls’s freestyle skier in historical past. She will try and win a 3rd in Saturday’s ultimate halfpipe.
The 22-year-old, who has by no means entered an Olympic occasion with out profitable a medal, fell on her first run by uncharacteristically clipping the lip of the halfpipe on her third trick.
“I needed to be aggressive,” she instructed the Olympic information service. “I needed to become the hunter, not the prey. I needed to shift that dynamic. I was waiting for it to happen because I know when it happens, I can feel it.
“I went into the primary run, and I knew I did not have it, and I used to be like, please simply do not fall. You can nonetheless land a run and never really feel one hundred pc. Unfortunately, I did not do this.”
Entering the second run, Gu had to land a clean routine to make the top 12. She attacked it with consecutive 900-degree tricks, soaring 4.3m above the 6.7m halfpipe, but once again slightly caught the wall on the way down from the same third trick — a 720. This time, though, she stuck the landing, holding her nerve to score 86.50 to qualify fifth.
Gu is the only female freestyle skier competing in all three freeski events — slopestyle, halfpipe and big air — at the Winter Games.
“At this level, I’m exhausted. And the factor is, no decide is giving me further factors for being good at rails,” Gu said. “No decide is giving me further factors as a result of I missed a coaching. I’m the one one on this area competing in a single different occasion, let solely two, however I nonetheless should compete towards the most effective of this occasion.
“When I’m in slopestyle, I’m competing against the best of that event. There is no overall winner, right? I have to be truly the best at each to deserve anything. And so I feel that is just the mentality I take. I choose to do three events. I’m not complaining about it, but I’m just saying the reality of the situation is I train like a third of what everybody else does.
“Tomorrow’s (Friday) my first off day since February 2. So I’m actually excited. In Chinese, there is a saying ‘lie flat’. I simply have yet one more day (of competitors), after which I can simply lie flat.”
Gu fell in her first run, leaving her with quite a lot of work to do on her second run. (Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP through Getty Images)
Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin, Gu’s rival, certified in first place with a rating of 91.50, placing down a commanding efficiency in each runs, exhibiting confidence and fluidity.
The defending world champion and 2026 X Games winner — the top of the game outdoors the Olympics — cruised into the ultimate, exhibiting large top on her tips, hovering 5m above the 7m halfpipe. In December, Gu beat Atkin by simply 1.5 factors to take the 2025-2026 World Cup halfpipe title.
Judges rating the sequence of tips based mostly on their diploma of threat and the way the competitor makes use of the halfpipe. Athletes are deducted factors for falls, stops, overrotations and minor errors. On Saturday, rivals begin in reverse order of their qualification outcomes, and the most effective of their three runs will depend.
Last week, Gu criticized the scheduling of her freeski occasions, saying this system “doesn’t make sense” and is “really unfair.”
The huge air ultimate, which came about on Monday, clashed with one of many three coaching classes main as much as Thursday’s qualification, that means Gu might solely attend two of the halfpipe practices offered.
In an announcement to TheAthletic, FIS communications director Bruno Sassi mentioned, “Constructing the Olympic competition program is a complex process.”
Gu might depart the 2026 Winter Olympics with three medals, matching her three-medal haul — two golds and one silver — on the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
Meanwhile, 2018 Olympic halfpipe gold medalist Cassie Sharpe was taken off on a stretcher after hitting the icy flooring laborious on her second run. The Canadian was seen waving to the gang as she left the course and certified for the ultimate in third place due to her rating of 88.25 on her first run.
