China’s reigning Olympic champion Eileen Gu battled back from a heavy fall to secure her place in the women’s freeski big air final at the Winter Games on Saturday.
The 22-year-old started strongly with a clean opening jump but failed to stick her landing on the second attempt. She slid onto her side, losing a ski in the process, and dropped to 17th in the standings.
Facing elimination, Gu responded under pressure. Opting against a conservative approach, she executed a more technically demanding trick on her final run and landed it cleanly, briefly moving into top spot.
Canada’s Megan Oldham later overtook her to finish first in qualifying, while Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud bronze medallist at Beijing 2022 placed third.
Gu noted it was her first big air competition since claiming gold at the Beijing Olympics. She revealed she had not initially planned to compete in the event at the 2026 Winter Olympics and had not specifically trained for it.
She is the only female freestyle skier entered in all three disciplines slopestyle, big air and halfpipe at these Games.
“I’m proud to be the only woman competing in three freestyle events,” she said. “I’m here to give it everything and see how it unfolds.”
Earlier in the week, Gu earned silver in slopestyle, with Gremaud taking gold.
In big air, athletes launch off a large jump and perform multiple spins and flips before landing. Scores are awarded based on amplitude, execution, difficulty and creativity. The top 12 competitors determined by the combined scores of their best two jumps out of 27 entrants progressed to Monday’s final.
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