US-born freestyle skier Eileen Gu [7], who represents China, won the silver medal in women's freeski slopestyle [8] at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud claimed gold, and Estonia's Kelly Sildaru took home the bronze. Eighteen-year-old Gu was born and raised in California but made the decision to compete for her mother's native country of China in 2019 in order to inspire other young Chinese skiers. This is medal number two for Gu, after she won gold in women's big air [9] last week.

Freeskiing slopestyle [10] is scored similarly to freesking halfpipe, but instead of a big U-shaped halfpipe, the course has obstacle features like rails, jumps, and other elements, which athletes can use creatively to improve their scores. A panel of either five or six judges award overall "impression" scores from one to 100. Judges credited Gu with a 69.90 after the first round, slotting her into third place. After a fall in the second round, she fell into eighth place. Gu's final run totaled 86.23 [11], just over .33 points behind Gremaud.

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Kaillie Humphries Takes Home First-Ever Olympic Gold Medal in Women's Monobob [12]

"Genuinely had so much fun skiing today, and can't wait for halfpipe coming up next! Congrats to all the girls for inspiring me and pushing the sport as always," Gu wrote on Instagram [13]. We're excited to see what Gu can do — and whether there's another medal in her future.