LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu fell on her first run in freeski halfpipe qualifying at the Milan Cortina Games on Thursday night, setting up a pressure-packed second attempt.
Gu clipped the lip of the halfpipe on her third trick, knocking her left ski off and sending her skittering to the bottom of the course.
That means Gu will have to stay upright on her second run — and get a good enough score to enter the top 12 — to advance to Saturday’s final.
The 22-year-old Gu, who was born in the United States and competes for China, has won a medal in all five of her previous Olympic events between these Games and Beijing in 2022.
Gu has won two silvers in Italy, finishing second in both slopestyle and big air — and she bristled at the suggestion that her failure to win gold was a disappointment.
Four years ago in China, Gu leapt to fame at age 18 when she became the first freestyle skier to win three medals in a single Games. She won gold in halfpipe and big air and silver in slopestyle.
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