China’s 5th Gold! Eileen Gu Defends U-Shaped Freestyle Skiing Title, Becomes History-Making Athlete

In the women’s U-shaped freestyle skiing final at the Winter Olympics, Eileen Gu delivered a flawless performance, scoring 94.75 points to successfully defend her gold medal. She became the first female athlete in history to win back-to-back golds in this event. This marks China’s fifth gold medal at the Games, while teammate Li Fanghui earned silver.

Gu previously won gold in the halfpipe and big air, and silver in slopestyle at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. At this edition, she had already claimed silver in slopestyle and big air, further cementing her dominance.

During the qualifying round on February 19, Gu stumbled on her first run, scoring just 16.25 points, but rebounded with 86.5 points in her second run, ranking fifth and advancing to the finals alongside Li Fanghui, Liu Yishan, and Zhang Kexin. The final, originally scheduled for February 21, was postponed to February 22 at 10:40 a.m. due to weather concerns.

In the first final run, Gu again made a mistake, scoring 30 points and ranking 8th, while Li Fanghui led with 81.25 points. In the second run, both athletes performed flawlessly, scoring 94.00 and 91.50 points, respectively, moving into the top two positions. In the third and decisive run, Gu excelled with 94.75 points to secure gold, with Li Fanghui earning silver at 93 points.

With this victory, Gu has now earned six Olympic medals across two Winter Games (three golds and three silvers), becoming the athlete with the most Olympic freestyle skiing medals in history. She is also the first woman to defend a U-shaped freestyle skiing title, and this gold contributes to China’s fifth gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics.