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.
One of the biggest names at the Milano Cortina Games, the 22-year-old has previously said she had not competed in big air since 2022, and told reporters on Sunday she had reached out to organisers at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), which sets the schedule.
“I’ve asked FIS if I could train with the snowboarders, I’ve asked them if I could do an hour on my own or find some kind of fair solution,” Gu said. “I even said if I don’t make finals for big air, I won’t take the extra training, I will make sure it’s fair. Everybody should get nine hours.
“I think it’s really unfair. I think it’s punishing excellence, to be completely honest with you. Because I dare to do three events, and this is making it completely impossible for me to train fairly for the third event.”