Birk Ruud and Eileen Gu react as their gold medals are confirmed. Photo: Youtube Screenshot // NBC
Going into the women’s ski big air, the question on everyone’s mind was whether France’s 20-year-old Tess Ledeux would win gold, or if it would be China’s 18-year-old Eileen Gu. France’s Tess Ledeux was a strong contender for the medal with some massive tricks up her sleeve, but the thought was if American-born Eileen Gu, skiing for China, was able to land her tricks it would be hers.
She did, dropping a massive 1620 on the final run to snatch gold away from Ledeux who had a strong start to the event, landing a difficult 1620 on her first run, and was leading after her first two attempts (out of three).
“I’ve never done the 16 before, I haven’t really prepared for it that much either,” said Gu, who was born in San Francisco and learned to ski in the Lake Tahoe area. “I think I did two days on the airbag but I’ve spent a lot of hours visualizing it if that counts. Generally I’ve visualized for about an hour and a half before bed every day. Tess inspired me a lot with this jump. So even if she may be sad, this gold medal also belongs to her.”
In a post on Instagram in 2019, Gu said that she chose to ski for China because “the opportunity to help inspire millions of young people where my mom was born, during the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help to promote the sport I love.” Gu’s move was similar (and for similar reasons) to Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi, who grew up in Huntington Beach but won silver in surfing in Japan for his parents’ home country.
Third place belonged to Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud, who was in second after two runs, but crashed on her third, unable to keep up with the high-flying antics of Gu and Ledeux.
Birk Ruud was flawless throughout the event, both in the air and on his landings, earning him a well-deserved gold medal. Photo: YouTube Screenshot // NBC
The men’s side was a bit more up for grabs, at least going into the event. But once 21-year-old Birk Ruud of Norway dropped a 95.5 on his first of three runs, everyone else was scrambling. In the end, not even America’s Alex Hall could catch him, falling short on his third run where he failed to land a massive 2160, the trick that won him the X-Games this year. However, I love that Hall went big on his final run….gold or nothing – rather than trying to land a simpler trick just to end on the podium.
The run that secured Colby Stevenson the Olympic silver medal in men’s freeski big air! 🥈@TeamUSA x #WinterOlympics pic.twitter.com/BWNLC1uwab
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 9, 2022
That said, New Hampshire’s Colby Stevenson took home silver. After falling on his first run, the 24-year-old dropped a strong switch 1800 to reach the podium.
The bronze went to 30-year-old Henrik Harlaut, competing in his third Olympic games and bringing a much-needed dose of light-heartedness to the sport. Using his NBC air time while waiting for scores, he again declared that “Wu Tang is for the children,” and solidified himself as an absolute cultural icon to skiing’s core freeride community.
On the snow side, Shaun White made the finals for men’s halfpipe with a clutch second run that saw him land the difficult double McTwist 1260 that he fell attempting on his first run. He will be on again as he competes for gold Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.
