Winter Olympics: Eileen Gu says officials ‘punishing excellence’ after reaching big air final
Chinese skier qualifies in second place despite not competing in event for four years, complains doing so hurts training time for halfpipe
Eileen Gu qualified in second place for the big air final and then said Winter Olympics organisers were “punishing excellence” because doing so cuts down the amount of training time she has for her favoured halfpipe event.
Gu, who won silver in slopestyle last week, is the only female freeskier signed up for all three disciplines – slopestyle, halfpipe and big air. She is the defending champion in the last two after winning gold in Beijing four years ago, where she also won silver in the former.
The big air final, which is early Tuesday morning Hong Kong time, overlaps with the first of three three-hour halfpipe training sessions for that event, which is scheduled later this week.