Eileen Gu pushing her ‘best year’ to the limit
With a dominant performance in the halfpipe qualifiers on opening day of the winter Dew Tour in Copper Mountain, Colorado, Chinese-American freeski prodigy Eileen Gu took another step forward in a 2021 defined by huge successes -- and one more step closer to potential three-gold glory at Beijing 2022.
As 2021 draws to a close, Chinese-American freestyle skiing sensation Eileen Gu kept up her torrid pace heading toward the upcoming Olympic year by qualifying with ease for the finals of the women’s halfpipe event at the first stop on the 2021 Dew Tour.
Her score of 93.50 (the only 90+ score of the day) on a windswept superpipe at Copper Mountain, Colorado was enough to see off the challenges of Estonia's Kelly Sildaru and Team GB skiier Zoe Atkin and it sees Gu lead the field heading into this weekend's finals.
- READ | Eileen Gu's best year by far
Massive 2021 as Olympic history beckons
Should Gu win that, she'd be in contention to pull off a clean three-discipline sweep (halfpipe, slopestyle and big air) as she prepares for an historic debut Winter Olympic Games. Competing for the host nation, the People’s Republic of China, the USA-born Gu could well become the first action-sports athlete to win three gold medals at the same games.
It’s not a bad way for this former Youth Olympic gold-medal winner to close out a 2021 that’s seen her gain admission to her first-choice college, Stanford University, grace the cover of Vogue Magazine and even earn an invite to the colourful Met Gala back in September.
X Games and Worlds statement
“This year has definitely been the best year of my life," Gu, who won two X Games golds in 2021 and two more at that year’s world championships (both in Aspen), told Olympics.com in a recent interview. "I would say winning X Games, I was the first person in history to win three medals in her rookie year at the X Games, so that was really insane."
“It all did a lot for my confidence and taught me a lot about dealing with pressure especially in competing, so I think that was really good experience for skiing,” added the 18-year-old who won the Big Air contest in Steamboat last week and will likely take aim at the slopestyle event on Copper Mountain tomorrow (rescheduled from today due to dangerous weather on the course).
Hard work and results
“...The only thing I can do is my best on the day and if that is a gold medal then I’ll be super hyped," said Gu, who's trying to keep her feet figuratively on the ground as she soars away from the chasing pack. "If it's not [gold] then I will still be super hyped because I work hard and a lot of people don’t get to see what happens behind the scenes.”
Wise a winner in the men's pipe
Also in the superpipe today was the men’s qualifying competition. Team USA’s David Wise came in first and will join fellow Americans Lyman Currier, Aaron Blunk, Alex Ferreira, Hunter Hess and Birk Irving in the finals.
The Dew Tour continues tomorrow from Copper Mountain with the rescheduled slopestyle (men’s and women’s) qualifiers. Thursday (16 December) will also see the qualifying rounds of the men’s and women’s snowboard halfpipe competition, where Shaun White aims to find the kind of form he needs to challenge for what would be an historic fourth gold medal in Beijing this February.
Gu, hunting her own slice of greatness on the women's side, will see if she can add yet another exclamation point on the story of her imperious 2021 when she takes aim at women’s freestyle halfpipe gold on Saturday (18 December).