►►China’s freeski icon Gu Ailing successfully defended her Olympic gold medal in the women’s halfpipe at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Sunday.
LIVIGNO-Gu delivered a final run of 94.75 points to seal victory, having already posted the highest score of the competition with a 94.00 in her second run.
Gu’s first run was marred by a landing error on her initial 900-degree spin, causing her to lose speed and momentum. She bounced back on her second run, landing back-to-back 900s cleanly and executing the remainder of her routine without fault to move to the top of the standings before improving further in the final round.
The gold medal adds to Gu’s Olympic resume, marking her third career Winter Olympic title following two golds at Beijing 2022. It is also her third medal at these Games, having previously taken two silvers in slopestyle and big air.
China’s Li Fanghui secured silver with a strong third run of 93.00. Britain’s Zoe Atkin, who topped qualifying, took bronze with 92.50.
After the 1-2 finish, China’s medal tally at Milan-Cortina stood at five golds, four silvers and six bronzes, marking the country’s best result at an overseas Winter Games, with the previous record being 5-2-4 at Vancouver 2010.
The other two Chinese freeskiers, Zhang Kexin and Liu Yishan, placed sixth and ninth, respectively.
By Xinhua
