U.S.-born freeskier Eileen Gu of China rebounded from an uncharacteristic crash under the lights Saturday night in Livigno, Italy, hitting her final run in the clutch to successfully make it through to the women's freeski big air final at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
The defending Olympic gold medalist opened up the contest with a monster right double cork 1440 (86.00), but crashed on her second run, breaking a ski pole in the process. Sitting in 17th place headed into the final run and needing a top-12 spot to advance, Gu stomped a heavy left double 1080 (84.75), letting out a relieving laugh as she entered the corral to await her score of 170.75, which ultimately placed 2nd overall.
"Today was all about trust," Gu said. "I changed both my first run and my second run. I changed something from how I'd been training. It's more about trusting myself. … I'm just trying to be here and be present, and I'm just happy to be involved."
Canadian Megan Oldham, who took bronze in slopestyle earlier this week, led the 27-skier field by combining a first-run switch left double 1260 (91.25) — the highest individual score of the night — with a third-run left double 1080 (80.50) for a total of 171.75.
"All the girls are making a statement and I think we're going to see some insane stuff in finals," Oldham said. "I'm just really excited to be part of it."
The winner and runner-up from January's Winter X Games, Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland and Great Britain's Kirsty Muir, placed 3rd (169.00) and 4th (166.50). Gremaud won gold in Monday's slopestyle final.
Skiing on a torn ACL from November, Italy's own Flora Tabanelli, finished 6th. Like Gu, the 18-year-old reigning world champion had to throw down on her third and final run to advance after missing on her second. Her teammate Maria Gasslitter also made it through in 10th.
American Grace Henderson just missed the cut in 14th. Her teammates Marin Hamill, 17-year-old Avery Krumme and Rell Harwood — who like Tabanelli was also skiing on a torn ACL — placed a respective 19th, 22nd and 23rd, also not advancing.
Prior to Saturday's qualifying, Gu had not competed in a big air contest since winning gold at the 2022 Olympics. She had not trained in the event or landed her opening 1440 trick over those four years as well.
“I’ve always been one who dares to try, dares to go for it when the opportunity presents itself," she said. "Although I haven’t trained at all on big air, I didn’t want people to think that I was under too much pressure, or that I couldn’t do it. I feel that if you have the chance, then you should go for it."
The women's freeski big air final takes place Monday, Feb. 16, at 1:30 p.m. ET. You can watch it live on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
Women's freeski big air qualifiers
- Megan Oldham, Canada (171.75)
- Eileen Gu, China (170.75)
- Mathilde Gremaud, Switzerland (169.00)
- Kirsty Muir, Great Britain (166.50)
- Anni Karava, Finland (161.75)
- Flora Tabanelli, Italy (161.50)
- Naomi Urness, Canada (161.25)
- Lara Wolf, Austria (160.25)
- Liu Mengting, China (160.00)
- Maria Gasslitter, Italy (156.00)
- Kateryna Kotsar, Ukraine (155.50)
- Anouk Andraska, Switzerland (152.25)