By Mari Saito and Winni Zhou
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud won gold in the women’s freeski slopestyle at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday, while China’s home favourite Eileen Gu was roared on by fans in the final but had to settle for silver.
China’s “Snow Princess” Gu went all out from the beginning, landing a double cork 1080 with the Japan grab in a clean and controlled first run, but hit the deck on her second try, forcing her to sit on her skis to take a breath.
The fall piled the pressure on Gu ahead of her third and final run and while she earned 86.23 it was not enough to top Gremaud’s best of 86.56, with Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru taking bronze with 82.06.
Gu hugged her fellow medallists after her score was called out, smiling broadly at the camera, making a heart gesture with her arms and waving to the fans in the stands.
“I’m so happy today,” Gu told reporters in Chinese after the final, saying the competition had not been easy.
“I don’t know why I put that much pressure on myself,” she said of her final run, where she had to fight just to finish on the podium.
Gremaud, 22, who won silver in slopestyle at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 and bronze in the Big Air event last week, held back her firepower until her second run, which catapulted her to the top of the rankings.
Stylish Sildaru’s runs were full of mid-air grabs but she lost balance and fell in her second run, losing her skis and having to walk down the course.
Local supporters bundled up in heavy winter coats cheered Gu on in the half-filled stands at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, waving small pink flags decorated with the popular Olympic mascot, a panda in an ice suit.
A line of venue staff and volunteers gathered for the final run, eager to catch sight of Gu.
(Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
