They start skiing down the mountain like any other downhiller. But then they’re going backward. And scooting along metal rails planted in the snow. And then twirling and spinning impossibly off a ramp. That’s slopestyle. And the margins between the best skiers can be slim.

On Monday, it brought the first gold medal bid of these Olympics for Eileen Gu, the American-born Chinese freestyle skier who won two gold medals at the 2022 Games. The one event she didn’t win in Shanghai was slopestyle, where she lost to Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland by a whisker. It happened again Monday, and Gu was left with a second straight silver.

In slopestyle, athletes get three runs, and only the best run counts. Gu wasted no time and nailed her first run, finishing with a double cork 1260 — 3 1/2 rotations — off the last jump to score 86.58. Gremaud put up an 83.60, capped by a 1260 of her own.

With good runs in the books, both skiers could take more chances on runs 2 and 3. Those runs went well for Gremaud, not so much for Gu.

Gu made an early mistake on her second run and then chose to ski cautiously the rest of the way. But Gremaud nailed her jumps, including two 1260s, enough to take the lead with an 86.96, a fraction ahead of Gu.

Gu had to answer on her third run. But she tumbled on the first rail, and she had lost the gold to Gremaud yet again.

Gu’s legions of fans will get two more chances to cheer her on in Italy when she defends her big air and halfpipe titles.

—

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Victor Mather and Gabriela Bhaskar/Gabriela Bhaskar
c. 2026 The New York Times Company