Eileen Gu makes triumphant return as Alex Ferreira takes men's halfpipe at Secret Garden

Eileen Gu is back with a bang.

The double Olympic champion from People's Republic of China made her comeback to freestyle skiing World Cup action after 11 months a winning one in the halfpipe at Hebei Province's Secret Garden resort on Saturday (9 December).

Gu was utterly dominant at the venue where she won two golds at Beijing 2022, posting three 90-plus scores on her three runs: 90.25 followed by her best score of 94.25, and then a 93.00 with victory already secure.

It was Gu's first World Cup appearance since sustaining knee ligament damage in a training crash shortly after clinching back-to-back halfpipe wins in Calgary.

Hanna Faulhaber of the United States was second with 82.25 ahead of Canada's Amy Fraser on 79.25.

After her 11th World Cup triumph, Gu told FIS, "It feels great. In the second and third runs, I chose to try some actions that I haven't successfully done in training. I'm so happy to see so many friends to come to support me."

The men's competition was far closer with two-time Olympic medallist Alex Ferreira securing his fifth World Cup success thanks to an opening run of 91.00.

New Zealand's Luke Harrold was his nearest rival with the 15-year-old scoring 89.25 to take second place on his World Cup debut.

Hunter Hess made it two podium placings for the United States with 88.75.

Olympic champion Nico Porteous was unable to complete a clean run and ended up 10th with a score of 42.00.

The skiers head to Copper Mountain next week with halfpipe and Big Air finals taking place on Friday and Saturday respectively.

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Results from halfpipe Secret Garden World Cup 2023/24 Freeski:

Women's

1. Eileen Gu (CHN) 94.25
2. Hanna Faulhaber (USA) 82.25
3. Amy Fraser (CAN) 79.25
4. Riley Jacobs (USA) 70.50
5. Dillan Glennie (CAN) 66.50
6. Kathryn Gray (USA) 62.75
7. Li Fanghui (CHN) 24.00
8. Zhang Kexin (CHN) DNS

Men's

1. Alex Ferreira (USA) 91.00
2. Luke Harrold (NZL) 89.25
3. Hunter Hess (USA) 88.75
4. Jon Sallinen (FIN) 88.00
5. Lee Seung-hun (KOR) 81.50
6. Finley Melville Ives (NZL) 79.25
7. Dylan Ladd (USA) 79.00
8. Eugene Morris (USA) 78.25
9. Andrew Longino (CAN) 75.00
10. Nico Porteous (NZL) 40.25