ZHANGJIAKOU, China (AP) 鈥� If Eileen Gu鈥檚 latest performance is best gauged by how she came through big under pressure, or how she somehow keeps balancing three different and difficult events with the demands of her burgeoning celebrity, then her high-wire act Tuesday at the Olympics must have felt like a victory.
The second-place finish she 鈥渟ettled for鈥� after all those harrowing trips down the slopestyle course 鈥� it was more a matter of opinion than a loss.
After the nine Olympic judges perched above the rails and jumps formed their opinions and placed numbers next to them, the U.S.-born Olympic daredevil, competing for her mother's homeland of China, found herself a scant .33 points behind the winner, .
The final score 鈥� 89.56-89.23 鈥� is about as close as you鈥檒l get on a 100-point scale. It鈥檚 the equivalent of losing a 100-meter sprint by .03 seconds. Those contests aren鈥檛 judged. These ones are. Gu knows as well as anyone that some things in her sport are simply out of her control.
鈥淚 trust the judges,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes they give it to you and sometimes they don鈥檛, and today they didn鈥檛.鈥�
That it came down to this was in part because, Gu conceded, she 鈥渨asn鈥檛 really in the zone鈥� at the start of this minus 5 degree F (minus 20 degree C) morning in the mountains above Beijing.
Even for an 18-year-old with as much energy , what she鈥檚 doing is exhausting. Where most freestyle skiers choose either one event (the halfpipe) or two (the somewhat related slopestyle and big air contests), Gu has chosen all three.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to be good in even one of these things,鈥� said the 10th-place finisher, Silvia Bertagna of Italy, who is among the many on this circuit to willingly concede she loves what Gu is doing.
Gu's first run in the three-run final was beneath her standards. She nearly missed a rail, and she wobbled and bobbled on pretty much all six tricks. She scored a 69.9 and was in third. She fell on her second run, losing her balance as she spun 630 degrees and landed backward off the third rail. She was in eighth place after that.
Only moments before that spill, she had been talking with her mother.
鈥淪he said 鈥楶retend your second run is your third run, pretend you have no more chances,鈥樷�� Gu said. 鈥淎nd I was like, 'I鈥檓 trying!鈥� But I guess my imagination isn鈥檛 that good.鈥�
The bobbles and the fall set the stage for what turned out to be her silver-medal run. But because she hadn鈥檛 made it down cleanly on either of the two previous trips, she saw no benefit in bringing out her biggest trick and the one that might have won the gold. She had planned to try a double-cork 1440 jump at least once, maybe twice.
So, with pressure of a do-or-miss-the-podium run, she went down with her 鈥淏-plus鈥� material and executed it well 鈥� her skis hitting the snow with a solid THUMP on her final jump, which included a 鈥淏uick鈥� grab and a backward landing. She skied that all the way into the finish line and waited. She blew kisses to the crowd and formed her hands into the shape of a heart and held them above her helmet.
Two of the numbers that will be etched beside her name forever 鈥� 鈥�89.23鈥� and 鈥�2鈥� 鈥� popped up and Gu smiled. Forgotten in all the hype surrounding her much-dissected trip to China was that slopestyle has been the 鈥渨eakest鈥� of her three events this season. She wasn't 鈥渟upposed鈥� to win this one. She hasn't won one since last March.
鈥淛ust to be able to put down a run when you鈥檙e under pressure is another thing I鈥檓 proud to be able to represent,鈥� Gu said.
In any contest decided by what is little more than a rounding error, it鈥檚 hard to pick a particular moment that makes a difference. Gremaud had one idea.
鈥淚 believe the difference was probably my first jump,鈥� said the Swiss skier, who now has a full set of Olympic medals 鈥� this gold along with the 2018 silver and a bronze from last week in big air. 鈥淚鈥檓 the only one who did a double on that. That could鈥檝e been what made the difference, even on those few points, or those few 鈥榸ero-point鈥� points, or whatever.鈥�
That double-cork came on a jump that vaults off a kicker running at an angle into the crest of the hill. That angled-off jump is unlike anything slopestylers see in their regular contests. On her winning run, Gremaud scored .45 more on that jump than Gu, who tried a switch-Misty 900 鈥� a backward takeoff with 900 degrees of spin, but only one head-over-heels rotation.
鈥淥f course I鈥檓 competitive, so the zero-point-three points 鈥� I鈥檓 going to think about that," Gu said. "But it鈥檚 OK, I鈥檓 happy.鈥�
She didn鈥檛 have much time for moping, anyway. As she wound her way through the interviews, she was noshing on a pork bun. She needed to get lunch in before she headed over to the halfpipe, where practice had already gotten underway.
Her third and final contest of the Olympics starts there Thursday, and she is the favorite in that one. She is on pace to become the first action-sports athlete to win three medals in three different Olympic events all at the same Games.
That the second one was silver felt, in some ways, as much a result of bad luck, or the slip of a judge's pencil, or a barely perceptible bobble somewhere, as any grand statement about her place in the sport, or her role at the Beijing Games.
鈥淢y goal coming into the Olympics was to have one gold, and have one more podium in a different event,鈥� Gu said. 鈥淚鈥檝e already met that goal, and I鈥檓 going into my strongest event.鈥�
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Eddie Pells, The Associated Press
