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Gremaud upgrades to slopestyle gold, spoiling Eileen Gu's triple-title bid

Posted at 5:36 PM, Feb 14, 2022
and last updated 2022-02-15 03:31:27-05

Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland improved to gold Tuesday in slopestyle, the event in which she took silver behind her own teammate at the PyeongChang Games, consequently ending the chance for China's Eileen Gu to win all three women's freeski titles at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The last of 12 qualifiers to advance to the final, Gremaud opened up the competition by losing a ski on the first rail. She then flew to the top of the leaderboard with a stellar Run 2, hitting a switch on 450 out on the Section 3 flat rail and throwing down a leftside double cork 1080, a rightside Rodeo 900 and a switch left 720 on the jumps, improving her score from a 1.10 to an 86.56.

RESULTS

The 2021 world runner-up again lost her skis on Run 3, attempting a switch double cork 1080 on the final jump.

Gremaud's gold is her second medal of the Games — last Tuesday, on her 22nd birthday, she earned bronze in big air.

SEE MORE: LIVE UPDATES: Women’s freeski slopestyle final at the Winter Olympics

San Francisco-born Gu claimed silver with an 86.23 on Run 3. The 18-year-old big air gold medalist produced an overall sound first run but botched the second rail. On Run 2, she tidied up that section only to be eaten up on a 630-off landing on the next. A clean rail section on Run 3 vaulted her to second place.

SEE MORE: Eileen Gu fixes early trouble, just misses slopestyle title

Four-time X Games champion Kelly Sildaru, a favorite coming in and Monday's top qualifier, earned bronze for Estonia's first-ever medal in freestyle skiing. The 2020 Youth Olympic gold medalist put down an 82.06 on her first run, and in her last effort on Run 3 didn't fully catch the second rail section and came up short.

American Maggie Voisin's second run yielded a 74.28, which held in the bronze position until the last few runs. The 23-year-old Montanan was unable to execute a grab correctly on her final run and couldn't better her score, ultimately finishing fifth.

SEE MORE: How to watch Freestyle Skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics on NBC and Peacock

SEE MORE: Women's Freeski Slopestyle Final