CHINA, ZHANGJIAKOU ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) — Eileen Gu concluded the Beijing Olympics with two gold medals and a silver medal in freestyle skiing. The 18-year-old Californian has become a global star as she competes for her mother’s homeland of China. She is a rising model for premium goods, a ubiquitous representative in Chinese advertisements, the darling of the state media, and a somewhat controversial personality who has avoided geopolitics.
She has been the face of freestyle skiing for the past two weeks. Gu won gold in large air in dramatic fashion, finishing first in her final performance. A week later, she almost missed out on another gold medal in slopestyle, settling for silver. On Friday, she earned a gold medal.
Gu gained an early lead in the first halfpipe run then surpassed her own performance in the second, earning her the gold medal with a score of 95.25. Her first hit on the left wall, a cork 900 with her famous Buick grab, at a startling height of 13 feet, 9 inches, was a highlight of her victorious second run, as predicted. Her third run was a clean victory lap after her successful second run, with the second-place finisher, Cassie Sharpe of Canada, already trailing her by four and a half points. Rachael Karker, Sharpe’s teammate, finished third.
Gu won silver in the women’s slopestyle skiing competition earlier this week. After crashing on her second run, Gu’s third and last attempt put her on the podium with two 900s and a double cork 1080. She finished second to Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud.
Gu dominated the women’s freestyle skiing large air competition by nailing her greatest and highest-scoring trick in her last run: a left double 1620 with a safety grab. This maneuver, which requires four and a half rotations in the air, was something she had never attempted in competition before. Her two best runs pushed her ahead of France’s Tess Ledoux, who claimed silver.
