Eileen Gu beams at the Olympic Games. © ANSA / ALEX PLAVEVSKI

Silver, silver – gold! Gu breaks the spell in Livigno

Freestyle superstar Eileen Gu rewarded herself with the gold medal at the conclusion of the 2026 Olympic Games.

February 22, 2026

From: never

At the very last attempt, Eileen Gu finally fulfilled her dream at the Winter Olympics. After winning two silver medals in slopestyle and big air, the Chinese athlete crowned herself Olympic champion in the halfpipe on Sunday – just as she did in 2022. With 94,75 points for her best run, she relegated her teammate Li Fanghui (93,00) to second place in the Livigno Snow Park.

Bronze went to Great Britain's Zoe Atkin (92,50). She thus repeated family history in a way: her sister Izzy Atkin had already won bronze in slopestyle in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Gu now the best in history

The competition started anything but ideally for Gu. After difficulties with the first trick of her opening run, she initially found herself in eighth place. In the second round, however, she demonstrated her full potential, took the lead – and improved her score again in the third run, gaining another 0,75 points.

Eileen Gu couldn't believe her luck. © APA/afp / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV

With a total of three gold and three silver medals, the 22-year-old is now the most successful female freeski athlete in Olympic history, regardless of gender. Her triumph also surpassed Canadian aerials specialist Mikaël Kingsbury, who has two Olympic gold and three silver medals.