Chinese star defends halfpipe crown to cement status as most decorated Olympic freestyle skier

China’s “golden girl” Gu Ailing saved her best for last, delivering on the final day at Milano-Cortina 2026 to successfully defend her Olympic gold medal in women’s halfpipe at the Livigno Snow Park on Feb 22.

The 22-year-old freeski sensation, who already had won two silvers at the Games — in slopestyle on Feb 9 and big air on Feb 16 — scored a field-high 94.75 points in her third and final run to secure the win under a clear sky at the northern Italian Alps resort.

The closing-day victory cemented Gu’s status as the most decorated freestyle skier in Olympic history, having collected six total medals, including three gold, across three events at two Winter Games.

“That’s something that I am so proud of, it’s unbelievable to me, still surreal,” Gu said. “Going six (medals) for six (starts) is pretty crazy.”

The victory was not straightforward. In her first run, Gu lost speed and momentum after landing her opening 900-degree spin.

She rebounded in the second run, landing back-to-back 900s cleanly and executing the rest of her routine without fault to post 94.00 points and move to the top of the standings. In the final round, she improved her score to 94.75.

Reflecting on her ability to bounce back after her first-run troubles, Gu said: “It is easy to doubt yourself. Little things may trigger your self-doubt and, over time, make you afraid to try.”

She said the power of sport lies in its honesty, offering what she called “evidence over affirmation” — proof built through repetition rather than self-talk.

“You don’t tell yourself: ‘I can handle the pressure, I’m so great,’” Gu said. “You just do it, time and time again.”

Behind the accolades were struggles that built the versatile champion Gu, who opened up about all the challenges on and off the snow that she has overcome en route to her successful Milano-Cortina 2026 campaign.

“Every day I was fighting,” Gu said of her journey to overcome multiple injuries early last year to come back to top form. “I gave my all every single day that I’ve been here, and that’s no joke.

“In all three events, I showcased my best skiing, and as far as performance goes, that’s all I can ask for, to be able to show the world the best that women’s skiing has to offer at the moment that it really counts,” said Gu, who has also had to navigate a nearly impossible schedule of training and competing in all three events in Italy.

“I’m especially proud and happy,” Gu said when asked about her contribution to the team’s performance.

“Winning one Olympic medal is already incredibly difficult. To win six consecutive medals, a 100 percent medal rate, that’s an unimaginable standard to set for myself. I wouldn’t have dared to say that before coming here.”

Halfpipe, she said, has a special place in her repertoire. While she started in slopestyle and embraced big air as “the new and exciting thing”, Gu said she feels she brings “unique flavor” to halfpipe.

“I’m a slopestyle skier coming into halfpipe,” she explained. “I grab differently. I have different axis on my cork. It’s very personal to me.”

Gu arrived in Livigno having not trained in halfpipe for two months while preparing for slopestyle and big air. She called her decision to compete in all three events “a big gamble”.

“I’m not a betting woman, but I took a pretty big bet on myself,” she said. “There was a chance that everything could go wrong, and I would walk away with nothing. But, in my head, even if everything crashes and burns, I tried. I will never regret trying.”

Gu described the past few weeks as “a marathon at sprint pace”.

“I’ve been giving 100 percent of myself every single day,” she said. “I can’t slack any day. Every day is the Olympics, and you have to do it three weeks straight.”

She described long, sleepless stretches in the build-up to competition days, and said that once one event ends, the focus immediately shifts to the next.

For Gu, the medals are only part of the story. She said she wants to use her platform to grow the sport, particularly among young girls, and to create opportunities for other athletes.

“A big part of it is participation in the sport; the number of people who have heard of freeski — especially girls — and who dare to try,” she said.

“The second thing is recognition within the industry. A rising tide raises all boats. With more eyeballs on the sport, it benefits literally every other athlete too. They get more viewership, they get to have their own platforms, they get more sponsorship.”

She cited estimates that around 300 million people in China have engaged in winter sports since the Beijing 2022 Games, and said she has seen rising interest from sponsors and investors.

“As a competitor, I think we yearn for a worthy opponent,” Gu said. “It’s not about beating other people, but about healthy competition. That’s what sportsmanship is. That’s what the Olympics are about. What’s exciting is that, year after year, we get to see the progression of a sport. Everybody is contributing to that growth.”

Another Chinese skier, Li Fanghui, also put on her best performance by scoring 93.00 points in her third attempt to complete a one-two finish for Team China at runner-up. Zoe Atkin of the United Kingdom rounded up the podium at third with a 92.50-point effort.

The pair’s halfpipe podium finishes took the Chinese delegation’s overall medal tally in Italy to 15 — five golds, four silvers and six bronzes — which marked the country’s best-ever medal haul at an overseas Winter Games, surpassing the previous 5-2-4 mark set at Vancouver 2010.

Team China’s overall progress in winter sports since its 1980 Olympics debut at Lake Placid, New York, was also underlined by the fact that 49 athletes have reached at least the top eight in their respective events in Italy, up from 37 at Beijing 2022.

Inspirational breakthroughs included men’s speed skater Ning Zhongyan’s career-first gold in the Western-dominated 1,500m event. Ning edged out reigning world champion and title favorite Jordan Stolz of the United States in a thrilling final on Feb 19, proving the collective improvement of China’s winter sports programs.

Tong Lixin, deputy head of the Chinese delegation at Milano-Cortina 2026, said, “The solid steps forward made by our athletes at these Games have made a strong statement of the increasing, and more balanced, winter sports prowess of our country, consolidating the foundation built from Beijing 2022.”

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn