Welcome to live coverage of day 11 of the Winter Olympics from Beijing!
Eileen Gu needed a pep talk from her mum midway through Tuesday’s freeski slopestyle final to win her second medal of the Beijing Olympics, but the Californian-born Chinese sensation fell just short of another gold.
The 18-year-old added silver to the gold she won in last week’s Big Air, overcoming a shaky start to finish 0.33 points behind winner Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland.
Gu said her mother could see that she “wasn’t fully in the zone” after her first run and urged her to “pretend you have no more chances” on her second of three attempts.
Gu ended up taking a hefty backwards tumble on her second run but she got there in the end, claiming silver on her final attempt ahead of Estonian favourite Kelly Sildaru.
“I guess my imagination’s not that good so it came down to the real third run, and I did it,” said Gu, munching on a local steamed bun as she spoke to reporters.
“For that, I’m so, so proud of myself.”
Gu is the face of the Games and will have another shot at a medal in freeski halfpipe, with the qualification round taking place on Thursday and the final on Friday.
She said the “trifecta” of three freestyle skiing medals at the Games had “always been my goal” and she kept the dream alive with a gutsy performance in slopestyle.
Gu, who in 2019 switched from representing the US to China, was in third place after the first run but she slipped off a rail on her second run to leave her eighth with only one chance remaining.
She saved the day with a tenacious final run and said she felt “relieved” to end up on the podium.
“I’m out here representing myself and the sport to people so just to be able to put down a run and show people what’s possible when you’re under pressure is another thing that I’m proud to represent,” she said.
“I’m proud of myself and I’m happy that everybody was here to witness it.”
BRONZE-WINNER COADY MISSES ANOTHER MEDAL
After an “insane” start to her Big Air Final, Tess Coady could not land her final two jumps to slip of out medal contention.
After qualifying in seventh spot on Monday, Coady scored an unbelievable 85 with her first jump in the final.
It had the 21-year-old from St Kilda in the bronze medal at the end of the first of three jumps.
Austrian Anna Gasser was in the silver position, while New Zealand gold medallist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott was in top spot after a 93.25.
But Coady, who only a week ago won bronze during the women’s snowboard slopestyle, could not land her next two jumps.
Needing a massive score in her third and final jump, Coady slipped before take-off and could not get the speed to complete her jump as she finished in ninth.
A huge 95.50 from Gasser saw the Austrian move into first place on the penultimate jump of the day, forcing her New Zealand counterpart to pull a rabbit out of the hat.
But Zoi Sadowski-Synnott was unable to land her final jump as she attempted a 1260.
Murase Kokomo from Japan finished third.
Later, 23-year-old Kailani Craine will compete in the figure skating from 9pm.
Craine is a six-time national champion and finished 17th at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Her compatriot Danielle Scott crashed out twice in the 12-woman final while Peel crashed on her first attempt, then landed somewhat awkwardly on her second but did enough to make the six-woman super-final.
Australia’s Bree Walker produced a brilliant final run but just missed a medal in the debut of the Olympic women’s Monobob in Beijing.
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