On February 14, 2022, Beijing time, veteran Xu Mengtao won the championship in the freestyle ski women's aerial skills competition, which was her first Olympic gold medal and the fifth gold medal won by the Chinese team in this competition. Runner-up was not from the United States, but defending champion Hannah Khushkova, who made a thrilling advance to the decider as 6th and almost completed the counterattack.
Judging from the performance of the qualifiers, Xu Mengtao's number one opponent in the championship should be the American Caldwell, she is very stable, especially the landing is very confident, it can be said that the integrity of the whole set of actions is quite high. However, in the decisive round, the first to stand out was the Belarusian famous Hannah Khushkova.
It is undeniable that as the defending champion Hannah Hushkova is strong and a strong player, but her state in this Olympic cycle is more average, and she is plagued by injuries, unable to complete difficult moves, and can only improve her score through quality.
In the qualifiers, Hannah Hushkova struggled, only finishing 6th to advance to the decider. Six players advanced to the decider round, Hannah Hushkova was the first to appear, unexpectedly, she suddenly scored 107.95 points, giving the pressure to the next 5 players.
Sure enough, the players who appeared after that all had different degrees of mistakes, especially Kong Fanyu, and the mistakes were very serious. It was not until Xu Mengtao appeared that the situation changed, and the veteran Xu Mengtao took out the most difficult action in the world, with a beautiful posture in the air and a stable landing. The camera immediately gives Hannah Hushkova, and judging from the expression on her face, she should feel that it is difficult for her to hold the first position, because Xu Mengtao's difficulty score is higher.
Sure enough, Xu Mengtao scored 108.61 points, 0.66 more than Hannah Hushkova. With american Ashley Caldwell making a mistake, Xu Mengtao won the championship, while Hannah Khushkova failed to defend her title, losing to Xu Mengtao by 0.66 points.
Although the defense failed, Hannah Hushkova was still generous, hugging and congratulating Xu Mengtao and giving applause to the Chinese champion Xu Mengtao, which was a pity between the outstanding players. Just like the American player Ashley Caldwell, hugging Xu Mengtao for a long time, is an opponent and a friend, sports unite everyone.
After waiting for 28 years, the Chinese team finally won this gold medal, Xu Yuanyuan, Li Nina, Zhang Xin, Guo Xinxin, Kong Fanyu and others have worked hard for this gold medal, and now, Xu Mengtao is complete, it is to help the sisters and sisters realize their dreams. So, Xu Mengtao shouted after the game: We won.
This is the meaning of persistence, this is the result of hard work, this is life, congratulations Xu Mengtao!