Ailing (Eileen) Gu books spot in final of women's freeski slopestyle at Beijing 2022 - Qualifying as it happened

Ailing (Eileen) Gu booked her place in the final of the women's freeski slopestyle event at Beijing 2022.

The China star came through a nervous qualifying event following a 24-hour postponement due to the weather.

Here's how it all played out.

Qualifying run one of two - 10:00am China Standard Time - Ailing (Eileen) Gu 11th after first run, with 12 to qualify

Gu is the first skier to compete in each run, under beautiful blue skies at the Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou. She will be disappointed with her opening score of 57.28, which left a lot of room for improvement.

The 2021 World Champion and Youth Olympic Games silver medallist is in the penultimate qualifying spot after run one, so will need to raise her score and book a spot in the final.

Defending champion Sarah Hoefflin of Switzerland and Tess Ledeux from France also struggled in their opening attempts and are out of the qualifying spots with the second run to go.

Johanne Killi of Norway leads on 81.48, and is almost guaranteed a final place.

Estonia's Kelly Sildaru also impressed, with her opening score 80.96, just ahead of Maggie Voisin from USA.

The 16-year-old Kirsty Muir of Great Britain followed her impressive big air debut with a 70.11 to leave her in fourth and with a good chance of making the final. Her teammate Katie Summerhayes shouted "Oh my God it's cold" on completing her run of 66.56. She sits sixth after run one

There are 26 skiers taking part in qualifying. Caroline Claire of USA did not start (DNS) the slopestyle competition.

All the athletes have two qualifying runs, with their highest score being counted in the final qualification rankings, with 12 progressing to the final where the podium places will be decided.

Qualifying run two of two - 11:15am China Standard Time - Gu the first to go

Gu knows she needs to improve, and puts down an impressive run, saying "quali's are way more nerve-wracking than finals" afterwards, before eating sandwich while waiting for her score of 79.38 to flash up on the big screen. That takes her up to third overall and almost certainly into the final. She's heading straight to the neighbouring halfpipe to practice there.

Kelly Sildaru showed her medal potential with 86.15 to move top overall, just ahead of Johanne Killi who scored 86.00 in her final run.

Tess Ledeux also improve. The score of 68.13 left her sweating on how later skiers performed, but she has don

Muir and Summerhayes both made it through. Mathilde Gremaud was the last of the 12 qualifiers.

Sarah Hoefflin's title defence is over. Her best score of 48.96 is outside the top 12.

The full results are here.

For all the top action and reaction, check out in our Live Blog updates.

How to watch Ailing (Eileen) Gu

The women’s freeski slopestyle qualification was originally due to take place on Sunday (13 February), but postponed due to the weather conditions, with heavy swirling snow falling for the whole day and affecting competitions across the Zhangjiakou mountain region.

The final of the slopestyle event has also been rescheduled, and will take place around the same time on Tuesday 15 February.

Chinese star Gu, who lives and trains in America, won Winter Olympic gold in the freestyle skiing big air competition in the capital, before moving up to the Zhangjiakou mountain region for the slopestyle event at Genting Snow Park.

Ailing (Eileen) Gu schedule, 14 February

This event was postponed by 24-hours due to the weather in Zhangjiakou, from Sunday 13th February to Monday 14th.

Women's Freeski Slopestyle Qualifying Run 1

10:00 - 10:25 (Beijing time)

Women's Freeski Slopestyle Qualifying Run 2

11:01 - 11:26 (Beijing time)

The Women's Freeski Slopestyle Final will take place on Tuesday 15 February.

Where to watch Ailing (Eileen) Gu compete

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