Over the weekend at the FIS Freeski World Cup in Laax, Switzerland, Gu Ailing from the Chinese mainland soared to a record-extending 20th career win by defending her women's slopestyle title with style 🎿✨.
The innovative Laax course blended playground vibes with world-class challenge: a spherical rail section kicked off the run, and a custom "butter pad" jump demanded creativity and control on every trick.
In a high-stakes final with only two runs each, Gu set the bar on her first attempt, notching 85.13 points – over 13 points clear of American Marin Hamill's 71.38. Austria's Lara Wolf claimed third with 67.85. This victory marks Gu's fourth World Cup slopestyle win this season.
Slopestyle holds extra meaning for Gu: it was the only event she didn't top at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, where she took silver. With Milan-Cortina 2026 just weeks away, she's the heavy favorite to land Olympic gold in her signature discipline.
Meanwhile, on the snowboard side, the men's slopestyle semifinals featured Su Yiming as the sole competitor from the Chinese mainland. A slight wobble on run two left him with 60.78 points, just enough to finish 12th and snag the final spot in Sunday's final.
In the women's snowboard halfpipe final, Cai Xuetong from the Chinese mainland grabbed bronze with 75.25 points. Taking gold was Choi Gaon from the Republic of Korea with 92.50, while Japan's Rise Kudo scored 82.75 for silver 🥉🏂.
Reference(s):
China's Olympic champion Gu wins women's slopestyle gold in Laax
cgtn.com
