Beijing 2022 freestyle skiing wrap-up – top stories, moments and records
From Ailing (Eileen) Gu's incredible performances that yielded two golds and one silver to the mixed aerials event debut, take a look at freestyle skiing's most memorable moments at Beijing 2022, the best quotes and all the medals.
Freestyle Skiing
Freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics Beijing 2022 featured 13 exhilarating events and was a discipline where the hosts won half of their gold medals. Ailing (Eileen) Gu was one of the headliners of Beijing 2022 and fully lived up to the hype with spectacular and consistent performances throughout the Games, winning two golds and one silver. Qi Guangpu and Xu Mengtao both won gold in men's and women's aerials.
Walter Wallberg and Jakara Anthony made history in moguls for Sweden and Australia respectively. Norway's Birk Ruud won the inaugural men's big air gold, while Team USA won the inaugural mixed team aerials gold.
Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud took the gold the next day in the women's slopestyle finals, edging Gu and Kelly Sildaru with a show-stopping second run. The innovative Alex Hall dazzled in the men's slopestyle event with a massive run scoring 90.01 in the first round to win gold for USA.
In ski cross, Switzerland went 1-2 in the men's event with 29-year-old Ryan Regez, who was competing in his first Olympics, winning gold and Alex Fiva, the reigning world champion and oldest competitor in the event at 36, taking the silver. In the women's event Sweden's 25-year-old Sandra Naeslund claimed the title after winning everything else in a stellar career.
New Zealander Nico Porteous, who won the bronze in 2018, closed out the freestyle programme by jumping all the way to the top of the podium to win the men's halfpipe after he pulled off a stunning 93.00 in his first run in the finals.
Top 3 moments
1 - Gu lives up to the hype
Ailing (Eileen) Gu began her campaign by putting in three show-stopping runs in the big air. She credited nine years of piano playing for her gold medal win. "I think of all my tricks as a rhythm, and music. The wind in my ears, the speed in my turn as I spin, it speeds up. There's a change in tempo."
She followed that up with silver in slopestyle before winning another gold in her strongest event, the halfpipe. Her second run score of 95.25 was never going to be topped. It's safe to say these were the Games that Ailing (Eileen) Gu became a Winter Olympics household name.
READ MORE:
2 - New moguls king
The Olympics are loved for its returning stars, but the stage is always there for new stars to emerge. Enter Walter Wallberg.
The 21-year-old, who had no World Cup titles to his name and had already undergone three knee surgeries in two years, couldn't be stopped.
Wallberg's stunned reaction when he saw his final score of 83.23 (1.05 points better than Mikael Kingsbury) mirrored that of the watching world. He put in a stellar run to clinch Sweden's first ever medal in moguls to earn him a personal phone call from the prime minister.
READ MORE: Top Moment of the Day—5 February: Sweden's Walter Wallberg stuns Mikael Kingsbury in men's moguls
3 - The People's Republic of China sweep individual aerials
After the disappointment of finishing with the silver in the mixed team event wore off, China bounced back with two experienced Olympians winning individual aerial golds.
In the super-six final, Xu, 31, won with a score of 108.61. "This is the first gold medal by China in women's aerials and it's just super cool."
Inspired by Xu's gold, Qi had a memorable performance of his own. "I am very happy my people are here with me. I can feel they are very happy and excited."
And they will be for years to come as China's future in freestyle skiing looks very bright indeed.
What they said
"I feel just as American as I am Chinese. I grew up spending 25-30 per cent of every year in China. Actually, the tower here I can see from my house in Beijing. My mission is to use sport as a force for unity.”
Ailing (Eileen) Gu after winning gold in the big air competition
"Honestly this feels like something straight out of a movie scene. I'm just on a cloud right now! I don't know really how else to explain it. It's my first big air podium finish, and it's here at the Olympics. What an amazing thing."
Colby Stevenson on winning the silver medal in the inaugural big air event
"Yeah, it was definitely a crazy day yesterday, I barely made it to finals. But today it was a new day, I woke up with good energy, positivity. And I was excited to ski. I now have a complete set of the three medals. That's really, really exciting. And I'm really stoked. It's just insane."
Mathilde Gremaud reacts after winning gold in the freeski slopestyle
Full medal list in freestyle skiing at Beijing 2022
Men’s moguls:
Gold: Walter Wallberg (Sweden)
Silver: Mikael Kingsbury (Canada)
Bronze: Horishima Ikuma (Japan)
Women’s moguls:
Gold: Jakara Anthony (Australia)
Silver: Jaelin Kauf (USA)
Bronze: Anastasiia Smirnova (ROC)
Women's freeski big air:
Gold: Ailing Eileen Gu (People's Republic of China)
Silver: Tess Ledeux (France)
Bronze: Mathilde Gremaud (Switzerland)
Men's freeski big air:
Gold: Birk Ruud (Norway)
Silver: Colby Stevenson (USA)
Bronze: Henrik Harlaut (Sweden)
Mixed team aerials:
Gold: USA
Silver: People’s Republic of China
Bronze: Canada
Women’s aerials:
Gold: Xu Mengtao (People's Republic of China)
Silver: Hanna Huskova (Belarus)
Bronze: Megan Nick (USA)
Women's freeski slopestyle:
Gold: Mathilde Gremaud (Switzerland)
Silver: Ailing Eileen Gu (People's Republic of China)
Bronze: Kelly Sildaru (Estonia)
Men's freeski slopestyle:
Gold: Alex Hall (USA)
Silver: Nick Goepper (USA)
Bronze: Jesper Tjader (Sweden)
Men’s aerials:
Gold: Qi Guangpu (People's Republic of China)
Silver: Oleksandr Abramenko (Ukraine)
Bronze: Ilia Burov (ROC)
Women’s ski cross:
Gold: Sandra Naeslund (Sweden)
Silver: Marielle Thompson (Canada)
Bronze: Daniela Maier (Germany)
Women's freeski halfpipe:
Gold: Ailing Eileen Gu (People's Republic of China)
Silver: Cassie Sharpe (Canada)
Bronze: Rachael Karker (Canada)
Men's ski cross:
Gold: Ryan Regez (Switzerland)
Silver: Alex Fiva (Switzerland)
Bronze: Sergey Ridzik (ROC)
Men's freeski halfpipe:
Gold: Nico Porteous (New Zealand)
Silver: David Wise (USA)
Bronze: Alex Ferreira (USA)