On January 10, the women's final of the Mammoth Mountain Station in the United States concluded the freestyle slope obstacle course World Cup, and China's Gu Ailing finished second with 91 points. So far, Gu Ailing has won 6 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze in this season's freestyle skiing World Cup competition, and lifted the Overall World Cup championship in the U-shaped track event. This crystal ball representing the championship is the best coming-of-age gift for Gu Ailing, who has just come of age.
Crystal balls are the best gifts
"That's the highest score I got!" Gu Ailing was also surprised by his performance after the game. In the U-shaped venue of the United States World Cup, Gu Ailing scored 94.75 points on the first taxi, and in the second taxi, she further improved the quality of her movements, two consecutive 900 flips, two 720 moves, plus the final flip 540 moves, so that she got a high of 97.50 points.
"Surprise this season U-shaped pool wins! Win the first crystal ball of the season! Excited and proud to have successfully completed today's best set of U-shaped pool game moves to date! Gu Ailing wrote on the personal homepage of the nickname "Frog Princess Ailing" after the game.
Through its official website, the International Snow Federation paid tribute to Gu Ailing, who performed well in the new season, saying, "The performance of Chinese girl Gu Ailing is amazing, and this season (she) has done nothing but win." Indeed, since his season debut in December last year, Gu Ailing has won the championship six times in 36 days.
The Beijing Winter Olympics is Gu Ailing's first Winter Olympics, carrying new expectations for Ice and Snow Sports in China, and she has the strength to impact gold medals in three events: U-shaped track, slope obstacle course and big jump. Gu Ailing has created a new history of China's ice and snow again and again, and has also made Gu Ailing a benchmark for Ice and Snow in China and even the world.
In fact, this season's Gu Ailing has not been smooth sailing, because of the injury, she missed the freestyle ski slope obstacle course World Cup in Stubai, Austria. It wasn't until December that Gu Ailing started his new season. Gu Ailing improved herself through competition after competition. After unlocking the new technology moves, she won her first World Cup title in the big jump event, and then won a gold and silver at the Day Tour Tour, the top international commercial ski event.
At the World Cup in Calgary, Canada, Gu Ailing's opponent became a fickle weather. Despite the snow and dust at the scene of the wind blowing, Gu Ailing still danced like a wind god's fingertips and won the championship. In the end, she won the year-end championship of the U-shaped track race at the World Cup in the United States, making her the most dominant athlete in the event. Previously, Gu Ailing deliberately took a year off from school in order to prepare for the Beijing Winter Olympics. Today, this crystal ball trophy is the best gift given to her.
Every medal is hard-won
People seem to be accustomed to "waking up to Gu Ailing and winning the championship again", but some people may not understand that each of Gu Ailing's champions is not easy to come by, and she has also encountered many difficulties. It can be said that every medal is not easy to come by.
Ahead of the World Freestyle Ski Championships held last March, Gu Ailing was accidentally injured during training, resulting in a fracture of his right hand and tearing of the ligament of his thumb. But in order to participate in the competition, Gu Ailing postponed the operation until after the game. In her first trip to the World Championships, she won 2 gold and 1 bronze in the women's U-shaped field, slope obstacle course and big jump event.
She also became the first Chinese athlete to win two gold medals at the World Freestyle Skiing Championships, and also created the history of the International Snow Federation, becoming the first doubleboarder to win two gold medals at the same World Championships.
In the most important season before entering the Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing continued to improve her technical difficulties in jumping. During the 2021 winter training, Gu Ailing successfully completed the front flip for two weeks and the four weeks of rotation, and successfully performed this set of actions in the big jumping table competition at the beginning of the season, and finally reached the highest podium of the World Cup big jump. "I'm very happy that this is the first time in history that a female athlete has done this in a competition." Gu Ailing said.
Big jump world cup to win the championship
The Big Jump World Cup gold medal is of great significance to Gu Ailing. The big jump is not Gu Ailing's strong point. Because he has practiced freestyle skiing since he was a child, Gu Ailing has performed well in terms of trick passing. This allowed her to get a high score in the slope obstacle course. However, in terms of the technical difficulty of jumping, Gu Ailing has always been lacking. With the start of full-time skiing after graduating from high school, Gu Ailing made the big jump no longer his own shortcoming by unlocking difficult moves.
Not afraid of the Winter Olympics The outside world also needs to reduce expectations
Winter events are very testing players' willpower, and perhaps in addition to talent and hard work, Gu Ailing's undaunted character is also the key to her success. Even if she signed up for the Beijing Winter Olympics to compete in three competitions, Gu Ailing hopes to do her best. On the one hand, she said that skiing is her hobby. On the other hand, the outside world should also see that Gu Ailing does not have championship or medal strength in all three competitions.
In the final of the slope obstacle world cup final before the Beijing Winter Olympics, Gu Ailing completed the full set of moves in good shape and scored 91 points, which was difficult to match the performance of Estonia's new sharp Hildaru. In the end, Estonian youngster Hildaru won the championship with 93.75 points. Gu Ailing won the silver medal again. This season, Gu Ailing has not been able to beat Hildaru or win a gold medal in this event. Previously, Gu Ailing had said that he had an advantage in jumping poles, but there was a technical gap in the jumping platform. To this end, she deliberately practiced the big jumping action, hoping to improve. But judging from the performance of the World Cup competition, I am improving, and my opponents are also improving. Just like Gu Ailing's dominance in the U-shaped site project, Hildaru also proved that his dominant position in the slope obstacle project was difficult to shake.
In addition, Gu Ailing won the World Cup gold medal on the big jump, which is also her first time to reach the top of the World Cup in the project. This also shows that the stability of Gu Ailing's play in the big jumping competition still needs to be tested. In addition, whether the world's strong players will "amplify their moves" during the Beijing Winter Olympics is also an external factor affecting the trend of medals.
During the last two World Cups in Canada and the United States, freestyle skiing events have been repeatedly interrupted or even postponed by capricious weather. This also explains the danger of Gu Ailing's project from the side. During the Beijing Winter Olympics, her matches also had the potential to be disrupted by weather factors. These will become a potential obstacle for Gu Ailing in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
For Gu Ailing herself, she never regarded the expectations of the outside world and the objective conditions of the outside world as a problem that bothered her to participate in the competition. In a recent interview with the media, including the Beijing Youth Daily, she has always said that she has not felt the pressure to participate in the competition. Because skiing has always been a sport I love, and it is also something I love to do. "I am a very passionate person who loves skiing. As long as I can ski, I am very happy. For me, signing up for the Three Winter Olympics is tantamount to having three skiing opportunities. So I'm very much looking forward to participating in the Winter Olympics. I hope that Gu Ailing can always maintain such a mentality to cut through the thorns and continue to be a "frog princess" with superior strength and full of confidence.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Chu Peng