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Olympics
Professional freeskier Eileen Gu secured a remarkable halfpipe victory at the recent FIS Freeski World Cup held in Secret Garden, China, from December 4 through 6. This is the 21-year-old skier’s 16th World Cup win, tying her with Tess Ledoux for most FIS World Cup wins in history. Competing on home snow, Gu dominated the women’s halfpipe event with her second-run score of 90.0, holding off China’s Li Fanghui’s 82.75 score and USA’s Svea Irving’s 80.0 for the win.
Gu expressed excitement about the intense competitors and even admitted to having a rough fall during training and her first run of finals, but despite that, putting on her best efforts and securing her victory. “I actually had a pretty heavy slam a few days ago in training and was just recovering alone in my room for three days. I came out today and had another tough slam [in] the first round of finals, so I was really going through it mentally, fighting a lot of demons all day,” Gu told the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
Gu has won three Olympic medals for China, which includes two gold medals in big air and halfpipe, and a full-fledged fashion career. Time named her among the world’s 100 most influential people, and Forbes named her the world’s second-highest-paid female athlete. Gu is also a full-time student at Stanford University, now at Oxford, England, for a term of exchange, and still finds a way to balance school work and skiing simultaneously. At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Gu became the youngest Olympic champion in freestyle skiing after winning gold medals in halfpipe and big air and a silver medal in slopestyle.
Gu also stated that she was “happy that when it counted” and was able to gather all her resources and channel them to where it counted. This win solidifies her as a dominant freestyle figure and sets the stage for her next event at Copper Mountain, Colorado, later this month. Gu’s 13th halfpipe World Cup victory since 2020 also makes her the all-time leader for halfpipe wins across men’s and women’s competition. Her excellence in performance consistently underscores her dominance in freestyle skiing as well as her ability to balance intense competitions with her academic pursuits.
Up next for Gu is the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup at Copper Mountain, Colorado, on Thursday, December 19. This iconic event, now in its 27th year, marks one of the season’s highlights, bringing together elite athletes for a thrilling showdown in one of the sport’s most challenging disciplines. The reigning Olympic champion continues to dominate the sport, combining elegance and explosive power. She leads the Halfpipe World Cup standings with 200 points after back-to-back victories at Cardrona, New Zealand, and Secret Garden.
