Mar 12, 2021; Aspen, Colorado, USA; Women’s Freeski Halfpipe winner Ailing Eileen Gu of China (center) flanked on left by second place finisher Rachael Karker of Canada and Zoe Atkin of Great Britain on left after the finals of the 2021 FIS Snowboard & Freeski World Championships Freeski Halfpipe. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports
March 16, 2021
(Reuters) – China’s Eileen Gu overcame a fall in training that had shaken her confidence to become the first free-skier to bag two gold medals at the same world championships, winning the women’s slopestyle final and the halfpipe competition in Aspen.
The 17-year-old won the halfpipe gold at Buttermilk Ski Area on Friday, before excelling in windy conditions to capture gold in the slopestyle final the following day.
Gu scored 84.23 on her first run, which proved to be enough for the victory on Saturday. Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud was second with a score of 77.15. Canada’s Megan Oldham was third with 76.18.
“It was super windy … A lot of girls had to push through really tough conditions. Big shout out to everybody out there,” said Gu, whose father is American and mother is Chinese, after her second gold.
“Me personally, I took a biggish fall during training and shook up my confidence a little bit and wasn’t sure how good I was going to feel during the contest.
“To come back, be able to land my full run makes me really proud of myself, to be able to push through that pressure and self-doubt.”
Gu made her Winter X Games debut in January and won both the slopestyle and superpipe events as well as a bronze in big air to emerge as one of the top contenders for a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Beijing next February.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue)
