Olympian Gu Ailing eyes championship glory at Freestyle Skiing World Cup in Chongli

Gu Ailing. Photo:Cui Meng/GT

As the 2023-24 international Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) Halfpipe World Cup continued, the 20-year-old Olympian Gu Ailing just finished with dominance for China in the freestyle halfpipe qualification rounds on Thursday, and advanced to the finals on Saturday as the top qualifier. This event marks her first FIS competition in the new season since the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The match kicked off in Genting Snow Park, Chongli, North China's Hebei Province on Wednesday. This is the first international A-level event in the Zhangjiakou competition area after the Beijing Winter Olympics, attracting 103 athletes from 13 countries.

Gu advanced to the finals in first place, along with Chinese athletes Zhang Kexin and Li Fanghui. According to the schedule, the freestyle skiing finals will be held on Saturday, with Gu hoping to once again claiming the championship.

During the Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu captured the gold medal of the women's freeski big air final at this very same venue. She also made a historic achievement as Gu is China's first women's Olympic gold medalist in snow sports.

However, Gu suffered a serious injury while training in Austria last month and she said that the injury still causes her pain every time she jumps. According to media reports, she said that "I have never had such a serious injury before, it's a new challenge for me."

A total of 15 athletes competed in this event, with the best score of two rounds being used to calculate the rankings, and the top eight advancing to the finals. Despite competing with an injury, Gu's performance remained strong, with high jumps and quality movements.

In the first round, she scored 85.50 points, a score that was enough to ensure her advancement to the finals. In the second round, Gu went for more difficult moves, earning unanimous approval from the judges, and scored the highest of the round with 94.75 points.