Eileen Gu finally allowed herself a victory lap after securing the gold medal in the second of three runs in today’s Beijing Olympic halfpipe contest. With a score of 95.25, way ahead of the field, Gu was tempted to show off with a super-difficult cork 10. But then teammate Kexin Chang fell badly on the course below and Gu decided she’d taken enough risks for the day. “It kind of woke me up, and I’ve never taken a victory lap before in my entire life, so I felt like, ‘You know what, last event at the Olympics, it feels like I finally deserve it,’” she said. “I’m really happy.”
The 18-year-old Californian, who decided three years ago to represent her mother’s homeland of China rather than the U.S., has enjoyed an almost perfect Olympic debut. She opened with victory in the big air event, then narrowly missed gold in the slopestyle, before completing the trifecta of medals in today’s halfpipe. If she was competing as an American, Team USA would climb from third to second in the medal table; China would drop from fourth to eighth.
