Eileen Gu returning to scene of Beijing Olympics gold glory for Snow League shot
Chinese skier has recovered from a ‘very terrible accident’ and will compete in a competition run by former snowboard star Shaun White
Eileen Gu has recovered from the “very terrible accident” she had in August and will head back to the mountain in China where she won an Olympic title to ski in the Snow League, the half-pipe circuit founded by Shaun White.
Gu, who won half-pipe and big air gold and slopestyle silver in freeskiing at the 2022 Beijing Games, is one of eight women who will take part in freeskiing on December 6 at China’s Yunding Snow Park.
The 22-year-old took a tumble while training at the Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand and had to be taken to hospital on a stretcher.
Now though, she appears to be back and ready to take on the likes of Cassie Sharpe of Canada, who won half-pipe gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and finished runner-up to Gu four years later.
Gu grew up in California, but competed at the Olympics for her mother’s home country of China. She will do that again next year at the Milan-Cortina Olympics. The 22-year-old also has two world championships and three Winter X Games titles.
The men’s contest will include two-time Olympic champion David Wise, three-time Olympic medallist Nick Goepper and 2014 slopestyle silver medallist Gus Kenworthy.