Big Air, Women

The women’s big air freestyle skiing event was a relatively new one on the international scene, having made its début in the World Cup in 2016, the World Championships in 2019, and the Olympics in 2022. France’s Tess Ledeux and Russia’s Anastasiya Tatalina, the 2019 and 2021 World Champions respectively, were both veterans of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics’ slopestyle event, with Ledeux also having won one of the two big air events held in the most recent World Cup season, among other distinctions. The other was won by American-born Chinese skier Eileen Gu, who had numerous medals to her name, including gold in this event from the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics. She was also the most recent World Champion in halfpipe and slopestyle, but had come in third in big air.

The qualifying round was led by Canadian Megan Oldham, who had been fourth in the most recent World Championships and taken bronze in the slopestyle. She was also runner-up behind Ledeux in big air at the 2022 Winter X Games, held at the end of January. In Beijing, Ledeux qualified in second, with Tatlina third, Norway’s Sandra Eie fourth, and Gu fifth. Eie would have disastrous first and second runs in the final, putting her out of contention for a medal.

Ledeux came out on top in the first round of the final, with Gu not far behind and Britain’s Kirsty Muir, the runner-up at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, in third. In the second run, Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud, the 2017, 2019, and 2021 Winter X Games champion, had a slightly better run than Ledeux, with Oldham further back in third. Gu’s second run went well, but in her third she pulled off a left double cork 1620 jump – which she had never performed in competition – and landed it successfully to match Ledeux’s score from the first round.

With Ledeux’s second-best score being lower than Gu’s, Gu became the youngest Chinese Winter Olympic champion, while France would have to settle for silver. Gremaud’s third run was unsuccessful, but Oldham was unable able to make up the difference in points, giving Switzerland bronze. Muir’s poor second and third runs left her in fifth, while Tatalina did not have a good final at all, ultimately placing tenth.