See How Eileen Gu Gained Three Medals on the Beijing Winter Olympics
ZHANGJIAKOU, China — Eileen Gu accomplished her stirring run via the Beijing Olympics, profitable two gold medals and a silver in freestyle snowboarding. The 18-year-old Californian, competing for her mother’s home country, China, has develop into a worldwide movie star — a budding mannequin for luxurious manufacturers, a ubiquitous spokeswoman in Chinese language advertisements, a darling of a doting state information media and a little bit of a controversial figure who has tried to keep away from geopolitics.
She was the star of freestyle snowboarding for a lot of the previous two weeks. Gu won gold in dramatic fashion in big air, taking first place on her final run. Per week later, she narrowly missed one other gold in slopestyle, settling for silver. And on Friday, she concluded with a gold in what she thought of her greatest occasion: the halfpipe.
Halfpipe: Friday, Feb. 18
Gu took an early lead within the first halfpipe run and topped her personal efficiency in her second effort, leaving her with a rating of 95.25 and the gold medal. As anticipated, a spotlight of her profitable second run was her first hit on the left wall: a cork 900 together with her signature Buick seize, at a staggering peak of 13 ft, 9 inches.
{Photograph} by Bedel Saget
Her third run was a pure victory lap, with the second-place finisher, Cassie Sharpe of Canada, already trailing her by 4 and a half factors. Sharpe’s teammate Rachael Karker took the final podium spot.
Freeski: Ladies’s Halfpipe Ultimate
Slopestyle: Tuesday, Feb. 15
Earlier this week, Gu took silver within the girls’s slopestyle snowboarding competitors. After falling throughout her second run, Gu’s third and closing strive landed her a spot on the rostrum with a run that included two 900s and a double cork 1080. She got here second behind Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland.
Large Air: Tuesday, Feb. 8
Within the girls’s freestyle snowboarding large air competitors, Gu confirmed dominance on jumps by touchdown her greatest and highest-scoring trick in her closing run: a left double 1620 with a security seize. This transfer, which includes 4 and a half revolutions within the air, was one she had by no means tried earlier than in competitors. Her two greatest runs put her forward of Tess Ledeux of France, who took the silver.