Chinese skier Eileen Gu, 18, was seen ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympics as one of the event’s sensations. This Tuesday (8), the athlete confirmed her expectations and won the gold medal in big air skiing, her first at the Winter Games.
Gu fought a balanced duel with the French Tess Ledeux, who in the first heat performed a 1620° turn in her jump and took the lead, the first woman to perform such a maneuver.
It was only in the third and final heat that the Chinese woman managed to reach first place. With a double cork 1620°, a maneuver she had never performed in her career, Eileen Gu passed Ledeux, who hit a 1440°, but fell off balance, which compromised her grade.
With a sum of 188.25 points, the star of the host country took the gold medal. Tess Ledeux scored 187.50 (only 0.75 less than the leader) to take silver. The Swiss Mathilde Gremaud, with 182.50, completed the podium.
“This was the best moment of my life. The happiest moment, the happiest day, whatever… I can’t believe what happened,” Gu said after winning the race.
A triumph that was only confirmed after performing a maneuver that he had never done before. “I had never tried it. Yes, I thought about it a lot, but executing it on my third run in the first big air Olympic final in history means the world to me,” added the Chinese woman.
Eileen Gu was born in San Francisco, California in 2003. She was raised by her mother and grandmother, both Chinese, and became fluent in both English and Mandarin.
Gu’s mother Yani, who migrated to the US to study and was also a skier, supported her daughter’s career. During the athlete’s growth, the family continued to travel to China frequently.
In June 2019, at age 15, Gu announced his decision to compete for the host country of the Winter Games.
In addition to being a high-level athlete (and now an Olympic medalist), the skier is also a model. Represented by IMG Models, she has been on the cover of Elle and Vogue magazines and has worked for major brands such as Tiffany, Louis Vuitton and Victoria’s Secret.
Brazilian breaks country record at Winter Games
Brazilian skier Manex Silva recorded this Tuesday the best participation in the country in cross-country skiing in Winter Games.
Born in Acre, but raised in Spain, the athlete finished the sprint race in 71st place (out of 88 participants). With 161.58 FIS (International Ski Federation) points, he became the first Brazilian to score less than 200 FIS points in the event’s history – in cross-country skiing, the assessment for a better placement is to score as few points as possible.
Until this Tuesday, the best FIS score in Brazil in Winter Games in this modality belonged to Jaqueline Mourão, with 172.88 points in the women’s 10 km in the Vancouver-2010 edition.
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