Defending Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu brushes off fall and advances to final in halfpipe

LIVIGNO, Italy — Defending Olympic champion Eileen Gu advanced to the final in freeski halfpipe at the Milan Cortina Games on Thursday night, shaking off a fall during her opening run.

Gu clipped the lip of the halfpipe on the third trick of her first run, knocking her left ski off and sending her skittering to the bottom of the course.

That set up a pressure-packed second attempt that she had to complete cleanly to stay in contention.

Gu didn't go conservative and laid down a run full of risky tricks, including one that took her soaring 14 feet over the edge of the halfpipe. She came close to clipping her ski on one landing but managed to stay upright.

Her run earned 86.50 points, good enough to place fifth among the 12 skiers who advanced to the final.

“I was relieved,” Gu said. “I just kind of had this moment of like, ‘Thank you.’ You know, I shouldn’t be in this position to begin with, but I’m glad that I was able to reinforce my sense of self-belief at the moment when it counted.”

Zoe Atkin of Britain, the 2025 world champion, topped qualifying with a score of 91.50. Li Fanghui of China was next.

Cassie Sharpe of Canada, the 2018 gold medalist, took a hard fall and was carried away on a stretcher. She qualified in third place, but it was unclear whether she would be able to participate in the 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 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.

She will try to make it 6 of 6 in Saturday's final.