China's Gu Ailing Falls Short of Big Air Repeat, Takes Silver

China's freestyle skiing star Gu Ailing failed to capture gold.

Gu scored 179 points in the women's freestyle skiing big air final at Livigno Snowpark, Italy, on January 16, finishing second behind Canada's Megan Oldham, who recorded 180.75 points, at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

Born in 2003 to an American father and Chinese mother, Gu became the inaugural champion of women's ski big air at the 2022 Beijing Games. Her combination of beauty and athletic prowess has made her the most-watched athlete at these Olympics. According to Forbes, Gu earned the highest income among all Olympic athletes over the past year at $23 million (approximately 33.7 billion won).

At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu won gold in halfpipe and big air while claiming silver in slopestyle. However, at these Games, she has had to settle for silver medals in both slopestyle and big air.

The final was delayed by approximately one hour due to adverse weather conditions. In the final format, which combines the two best scores from three runs, Gu scored 90 points on her first run. She managed only 61.25 points on her second attempt and scored 89 points on her third run, but could not overtake Oldham, who had already secured a combined score of 180.75 points from her first two runs.

Oldham, who swept big air and slopestyle at the 2023 X Games, earned bronze in slopestyle at these Games and claimed her second Olympic medal in gold. Italy's Flora Tabanelli took bronze in the final with 178.25 points.