Gu vows to 'put on a good show' for grandma

ZHANGJIAKOU • Eating a pork bun after winning silver in the women's freeski slopestyle final yesterday, home favourite Eileen Gu was already looking to the halfpipe contest later this week, when she will again aim for gold.

Gu, 18, told reporters that she had "no other time to eat" as she chewed a bun out of a plastic container handed by her mother after she finished with a score of 86.23, behind Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud (86.56).

The San Francisco-born athlete, who competed in the US team as a child but switched to competing for China in 2019, has been juggling training and competing in a trifecta of events at the Beijing Games.

Gu, who won the big air gold last week, said she was feeling "really good" ahead of the halfpipe event, which begins with qualifications tomorrow, though she was struggling to find time to practise.

"I'm probably going to miss this practice too right now but hopefully I can get into the pipe for a little bit," she said.

The teenager said she was particularly looking forward to the halfpipe because her grandmother was arriving to cheer her on.

"My grandma is coming out today, so she's going to watch me compete in the halfpipe, which means the world to me," she said after taking a bite from her bun.

"She's never watched me compete before, so hopefully I can put on a good show for her."

Gu has described her grandmother, who was a basketball player in university, as a "fiercely confident" woman, who instilled in her a deeply competitive streak.

She also said she was going to make a little time to celebrate China's traditional Lantern Festival - yesterday was the 15th day of the lunisolar Chinese calendar and the end of the Lunar New Year celebration.

Speaking Mandarin with a thick Beijing accent, Gu said she hoped to eat "yuan xiao" or sweet sesame sticky rice balls for the special day.

"Her arrival today is also a way of celebrating the Lantern Festival," she added of her grandmother.

Now the face of the Beijing Olympics, she is no stranger to multi-tasking.

She already juggles a professional skiing career with modelling for dozens of Chinese and international brands and is set to go to Stanford University later this year.

The women's freeski halfpipe final is scheduled for Friday and Gu said yesterday: "I go into every contest hoping to win but never expecting to win... I'm here to win and I'll do my best."

In other events yesterday, Switzerland's Corinne Suter powered to the gold medal in a thrilling women's downhill race, pipping Italy's defending champion Sofia Goggia to the title by 0.16 seconds.

Suter, the reigning downhill world champion, swept down the piste, known as "The Rock", in 1:31.87 to knock Goggia off the top of the leaderboard and end the latter's hopes of a remarkable comeback from injury.

The 29-year-old Goggia, who had fought back to fitness after suffering a knee ligament injury in a crash at Cortina d'Ampezzo last month, had to settle for the silver medal. Her compatriot Nadia Delago took the bronze.

Elsewhere, Canada won gold in the women's speed skating team pursuit, taking advantage of a mishap by the Japanese defending champions.

Japan started strong and kept a steady half-second lead ahead of their Canadian rivals.

But a slip by Nana Takagi, who was third in the train as they coasted towards victory with the finish line in sight, cost them their title at the National Speed Skating Oval.

She lost her balance as the team sped around the last corner and banged into the trackside wall.

The Japanese crossed the finish line 11 seconds behind the Canadians, who closed the race in an Olympic record of 2min 53.44sec.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS