BEIJING — American-born Eileen Gu of China cranked out the first 1620 of her career on her final jump, stunning Tess Ledeux of France, and earning the first of what she hopes will be three gold medals at the Beijing Olympics in women’s freestyle big air Tuesday.
Nicknamed the “Snow Princess,” Gu is among the biggest local names in Beijing. She is a medal favorite in big air, slopestyle, and halfpipe. Her first attempt at gold came down to the last round.
Ledeux is the only other woman to ever land a 1620 — 4½ spins — in competition, and she stomped one out with a slight wobble on the landing in Round 1.
Gu hinted after qualifying Monday that she might be able to match Ledeux. With everything on the line, she did.
The 18-year-old from San Francisco shrieked when she landed the jump, then dropped to her knees when her score of 94.50 was announced.
Ledeux tried to improve on her second run in Round 3, coming into the jump backward for a switch 1440. She was shaky on the landing, though, clearing the way for Gu’s gold.
Gu has gotten heat from her birth country after turning down Team USA to compete for China at the Beijing Games. Gu’s mother is from China, and though she learned to ski in California, she says her goal is to be a role model for young girls in China who have not had many female athletes to admire.
AMERICAN STARS FADE OUT: It was a miserable day on the mountains outside Beijing for American stars Mikaela Shiffrin and Red Gerard.
Shiffrin’s opening race in the Beijing Olympics ended quickly with a rare mistake and a rare DNF — Did Not Finish. Favored to defend her gold medal in the giant slalom, Shiffrin instead crashed out a few seconds and five gates into the race. She lost control coming around a left-turn gate and fell onto her hip on a course known as the Ice River at the Yanqing Alpine Skiing Center.
The missed gate meant she was done early in the opening run of the two-leg event.
While Shiffrin is expected to have four more chances to add to her collection of three Olympic medals, including two golds, she said Monday’s wipeout will always stick with her.
“I won’t ever get over this,” Shiffrin said. “I’ve never gotten over any.”
Her stunning exit was her first DNF in a GS in more than four years, a streak of 30 races. Her last one was three weeks before she won the gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
“That’s what drives me to try to keep working and improving, so I can try to make it [so] those things don’t happen,” she said. “But sometimes they still do happen and, unfortunately, it happened today. I felt like there was a lot to look forward to, but, well, now we need to reset.”
Shiffrin plans to race again Wednesday in the slalom, which she won as an 18-year-old at the 2014 Sochi Games. It’ll be her next chance to become the first Alpine ski racer from the United States to win three Olympic golds across a career.
Sara Hector of Sweden won the gold with a two-run time of 1 minute, 55.69 seconds. Federica Brignone of Italy took silver and Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland earned bronze.
On the slopestyle course, Gerard not only failed to defend his gold medal, but he was knocked off the podium entirely. A run by Canadian rival Mark McMorris dropped Gerard into fourth.
CANCER SURVIVER WINS GOLD: Three years after feeling a cancerous lump in his neck, Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot completed an inspiring comeback by winning the gold medal in men’s slopestyle on a course that includes replicas of the Great Wall of China.
Parrot’s victory run was highlighted by his second jump, when he approached the kicker from an angle instead of straight on — the only competitor to do so — and flipped backward for 1440 degrees of spin, then stomped the landing.
“By far, the biggest run of my entire career,” he said.
Just like his battle back from being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma 10 months after winning the silver medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. He underwent 12 chemotherapy treatments during the span of six months.
“I had to stop everything to fight,” he said. “I went through hell. It was the first time I ever put my snowboard in the closet. I felt like a lion in a cage.”
Su Yiming of China earned the silver and Mark McMorris of Canada took the bronze.
MEN’S DOWNHILL: Beat Feuz of Switzerland won the gold medal in the men’s downhill, the one major victory that was missing from his impressive career accomplishments.
“I can’t think of anything more beautiful than flying home with a gold medal around my neck,” said Feuz, the four-time reigning World Cup downhill champion who won the silver medal in super-G and the bronze in downhill at the 2018 Olympics.
The diminutive downhiller edged 41-year-old Johan Clarey of France, with two-time Olympic champion Matthias Mayer of Austria getting bronze.
GOLDEN WUST: Dutch speedskater Ireen Wust became the first athlete to win individual gold medals at five different Olympics when she took the 1,500 meters in an Olympic-record time of 1 minute, 53.28 seconds at the Ice Ribbon oval.
She now has six gold medals, five in individual events that are evenly distributed over each of the Olympics she’s competed in. She’s the most decorated speedskater in Winter Olympic history with 12 medals.
“I don’t know what it is. I just see the rings and something magical happens,” said the 35-year-old Wust, who plans to retire after the Beijing Games.
First Published February 8, 2022, 5:29 a.m.