Hopes soar after Gu's Big Air qualifier

'Golden girl' already proud to have inspired more Chinese skiers

"Golden girl" Gu Ailing is drawing even greater inspiration from her mission to promote freestyle skiing in China with her multiple-medal goal at Beijing 2022 after securing her Big Air finals appearance.

Despite a flawed landing on her second run, the medal favorite kept her cool in the freeski Big Air qualification rounds at the Shougang Industrial Park on Monday to remain on course to vie for medals in all three events she will compete in, including halfpipe and slopestyle, in her Olympic debut in Beijing.

The 18-year-old prodigy was in danger of missing Tuesday's final after she lost a ski while landing on her second run. But she picked up the pace for a clean third run to advance with a combined score of 161.25 points on her first attempt.

"Of course, there was a lot of pressure," said Gu, who won the event at the 2020 Youth Winter Olympic Games in Switzerland.

"I'm happy to be able to perform under pressure, and I think that it speaks a lot to the volume of mental training that I've been putting in and, yeah, I'm excited for tomorrow," said Gu, who was born in the United States but chose in 2019 to represent China, her mother's home country, at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

"I know there are people watching me. It's pressure on me. But I knew I could do that trick. I've been doing it since I was 14, so I was just talking to myself in the right way. Tomorrow is the big show, and hopefully I can put on a big show for everyone."

Since a skier's two best scores from three jumps count for qualification, Gu had to complete her final attempt to rank among the top 12 in the final.

She perfectly executed the right 900 Buick again in the third drop to qualify in front of crowds, who cheered loudly after her third run at the Shougang Big Air venue in downtown Beijing.