Mathilde Gremaud denies Eileen Gu Olympic freeski slopestyle gold

LIVIGNO – Swiss freeski star Mathilde Gremaud ended Eileen Gu’s hopes of a historic Winter Olympics golden treble on Feb 9, successfully retaining her slopestyle crown at Livigno Snow Park.

In a repeat of the result from the 2022 Beijing Games, Gremaud scored 86.96 points in a stunning second run to edge out China’s Gu, whose best total in her three runs was 86.58. Canada’s Megan Oldham took bronze with 76.46.

The 22-year-old Gu seized control of the competition on her first run, punching the air after her 86.58 on the obstacle-filled course.

Gremaud, skiing last in the field, responded with 83.60 as the two favourites set a standard their rivals could not match.

Gu, dressed in her white suit featuring Chinese dragon motifs, fluffed her second run, making a mistake on the first rail, mustering just 23.00 points.

Gremaud, a day after her 26th birthday, then stepped up in spectacular style to grab the lead, heaping the pressure on Gu.

She could not respond, making a mistake at the top of the course to confirm Gremaud as champion.

“I really knew I had to be stronger on the second run and somehow I managed to do it,” said Gremaud, who added she had been “pushed” by Gu.

“It was a lot of fun. I was very focused and I was very excited to ski and I was pretty calm as well. It took a lot of mental preparation, a lot of support from my family and from my team.”

United States-born Gu, who switched allegiance to China in 2019, was one of the faces of the Beijing Games.

She became the first athlete to secure three freestyle skiing medals at a single Winter Olympics, winning halfpipe and big air gold and taking silver behind Gremaud in slopestyle by just 0.33 points.

“I think it’s kind of funny that both Olympics we were within half a point of one another,” said Gu. “If anything, I think it’s just a testament to the growth of women’s freeskiing.”

The multi-talented skier, who models and studies at Stanford University, was aiming for a clean sweep of three golds in all of her events at the Milano-Cortina Games. But she had faced various challenges since the Beijing Games.

“I’ve had a really tough last four years, to be completely honest with you, dealing with injury and time off snow and then some mental stuff,” she said. “And sometimes it feels like I’m carrying the weight of two countries on my shoulders and just being able to ski through all of that, you know, and still show my best and still be so deeply in love with the sport, that’s really what I care about.”

Later, newly crowned Olympic downhill champion Franjo von Allmen won a second gold of the Games when he partnered Swiss teammate Tanguy Nef to victory in the team combined event in Bormio.

Von Allmen had been fourth fastest in the downhill down the Stelvio course, before Nef laid down a near-faultless slalom run for a winning aggregate time of 2min 44.04sec.

Another Swiss pairing in runaway World Cup overall leader Marco Odermatt and world slalom champion Loic Meillard tied for silver alongside the Austrian duo of Vincent Kriechmayr and Manuel Feller. Both teams were 0.99sec off the winning pace.

Meanwhile, in overnight action, “Quad God” Ilia Malinin vaulted the US above Japan and to the top of the podium on Feb 8 to cap a thrilling team competition that saw hosts Italy seize bronze.

With the US and Japan tied going into the men’s free skate, the 21-year-old Malinin met the moment even though he was not at his best to lead the US to a second successive Olympic team title.

“I’m proud of myself,” he told reporters. “I’m proud of my team for all the work they’ve put into this event. Without each other, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Malinin had been expected to perform seven quads in his free skate but ended up attempting only five, and even those were not flawless as he stumbled out of his quad lutz. He turned two planned quads – including the quad axel – into triples.

But he salvaged his programme with a huge quad toeloop followed up by a quad salchow, both in combinations.

He also landed a backflip on one leg to the delight of a packed crowd, which included a large number of vocal Americans at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

His score of 200.03 was almost 40 points fewer than his season’s best but still good enough to defeat Japan’s Shun Sato, who skated cleanly after Malinin but was unable to match his rival’s technical ability.

The US finished with 69 points, one more than Japan, while Italy took bronze with 60 points. Malinin remains the runaway favourite to win gold in the individual event at his first Olympic Games.

The US team included the veteran ice dancing duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the pair of Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea and Alysa Liu. REUTERS