Gu’s new silver sets freestyle skiing record for women
China’s Eileen Gu added another Olympic medal to her collection on Monday, taking a silver in the big air event with two impressive jumps that made her the most decorated woman in the history of freestyle skiing.
The 22-year-old Gu earned silver in slopestyle at the Milano Cortina Games a week ago. At Beijing in 2022, she won golds in big air and halfpipe plus a silver in slopestyle.
“Five-time Olympic medallist has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” Gu said late on Monday as her newest medal hung around her neck.
Gu finished second to Meghan Oldham of Canada in a big air contest that was delayed more than an hour by a heavy snowstorm that blew through the Alpine town of Livigno.
The American-born Gu, who competes for her mother’s birthplace of China, was the defending gold medallist in both events. She brushed off a reporter’s question about whether she viewed her performances as two silvers gained or two golds lost.
“I am the most decorated female free skier in history,” she said. “I think that’s an answer in and of itself.”
Gu said she was particularly proud of her big air silver because she had not competed in the event since she won the gold in Beijing in 2022, and she had not trained for it ahead of the Games.
She also hit her head and broke her helmet during a training run late on Monday. She said she used the downtime during the weather delay to lie in a dark room and put ice on her injury.
Freestyle skiing was added to the Olympics in 1992.
Gu now stands tied in the medal count with Canada’s moguls specialist Mikhael Kingsbury, who is the most-decorated man in freestyle skiing.
She has a chance to overtake him when she competes in the halfpipe contest that starts with qualifying rounds on Thursday.
Gu’s accomplishment on Monday coincided with the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year. She said she had no plans to celebrate her feat, however. Her immediate focus, she said, was to prepare for her next event.
“I’m going to be visualising my halfpipe run,” she said. “I need to train tomorrow night. I’m going to lie in bed and think about my tricks.”