China’s Gu Ailing adds silver in women’s big air of Milan-Cortina

Agency :

Chinese freeskier Gu Ailing won her second silver medal at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in the women’s big air on Monday, while Dutch short track speed skater Xandra Velzeboer captured her second gold medal of the Games with victory in the women’s 1,000 meters.

In a competition delayed by over an hour due to wind and snowfall in Livigno, and which saw one of the top contenders, Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud, withdraw after sustaining a hip injury during warm-up, Gu, who had not contested a major women’s big air event since winning gold at the Beijing Games, finished with 179.00 points, just 1.75 behind the winner, Megan Oldham of Canada.

Gu had claimed a slopestyle silver at Milan-Cortina. On Monday, she opened with a strong 90.00-point run, slipped slightly on landing for 61.25 in her second attempt, then responded under pressure with 89.00 points in the final round.

With the silver, Gu now owns five Winter Olympic medals, the most by any woman in freeski history.

“There’s a ring to a five-time Olympic medalist,” Gu said. “The expectations were – I wouldn’t say low, but I was just trying to take it one step at a time going into my first big air competition in four years, and just go out there and ski and see what happens.”