Olympic champion Gu Ailing of China cruised into the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2025 FIS Freeski World Cup in Zhangjiakou, in north China's Hebei Province, on Thursday, joining compatriots Li Fanghui and Zhang Kexin.
The women's freeski halfpipe qualification, which kicked off on Thursday morning, saw 26 athletes battling for a spot in the final. The best results were determined across two runs, with the top 10 athletes advancing to the final where they will compete for points to determine standings for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Gu scored 86.50 points in her first run to sit second behind Li, before improving to 92.75 in her second run to top the women's qualification.
"I feel pretty good this season. It's been a year since my last halfpipe competition, right here. So it's been quite a while. But I'm very happy. Moreover, I think from the perspective of overcoming pressure, winning once is already quite difficult, but to keep winning, it gets harder and harder each year. So I just keep challenging myself," said Gu.
The other two Chinese skiers, Li Fanghui and Zhang Kexin, also put run strong runs and advanced to the final, grabbing the third and fifth qualifying places respectively.
"Last night I was still worried about the movements, but I did quite a good somersault during today's training. And then, I performed steadily during the competition. I spent the entire summer preparing for the winter competition. Now I'm just using the competition as a form of practice," said Li.
The finals are scheduled for Saturday.
China's Gu Ailing qualifies for halfpipe final at home freeski World Cup
