Halfpipe, Women

The defending Olympic champion in the women’s halfpipe was Canadian Cassie Sharpe, but her most notable result in this event since had been silver at the 2019 World Championships. The more dominant competitor of late was American-born Chinese skier Eileen Gu, who had won the event at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, the 2021 World Championships, and all four times it had been held in the most recent World Cup season.

As expected, Gu dominated the field in qualifying, recording the highest score of the tournament and the only one above 90 in the first round. With 89.50, however, Rachael Karker of Canada, the 2021 World runner-up, came close. Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru, the 2019 World Champion who was more of a slopestyle specialist, was third, while Sharpe was further down the list in sixth.

Gu never relinquished the lead, with the highest score in the first two rounds of the final, either of which would have won her the gold medal. When Gu took a victory lap for the third round, Sharpe came out on top with her best performance of the tournament, although her score in any of the three runs would have assured her second place. Karker, meanwhile, edged out Sildaru by 0.75 points to claim bronze. Gu’s win, combined with her earlier victory in big air and her silver in slopestyle, made her the first freestyle skier to claim three medals in a single edition of the Olympics.