LIVIGNO, Italy — A pair of heavyweights, at the top of their game, going haymaker for haymaker, trick for trick, epic run for epic run.
The women’s free ski slopestyle duel between Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud and Eileen Gu of China lived up to the hype until Gu fell immediately off the first rail on her third run — an element that gave her trouble in the qualifier two days ago, too.
And so it ended the same way as the final from four years ago – with Gremaud taking home gold again and Gu settling for a stellar silver.
Gu’s first run resulted in a 86.56, better than Gremaud’s gold run in China in 2022. Gremaud came in three points below that at the end of Round 1, but Gu stumbled early in the second of three finals runs, opening the door for Gremaud, who answered with a 86.96 to top the leaderboard.
Canada’s Megan Oldham took bronze with a 76.46. The United States’ Avery Krumme, the lone American to make the 12-person finals, finished 11th.