Eileen Gu says she's disappointed she can't get help with her packed Olympic schedule

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — After Eileen Gu secured her spot in the Winter Olympics big air final Saturday, she said she was disappointed that Games organizers wouldn't make accommodations to allow her the same amount of training as the rest of the skiers in her third and final event, the halfpipe.

Gu, who won silver in slopestyle earlier in the week, is the only female freeskier signed up for all three disciplines — slopestyle, halfpipe and big air. The big air final Monday overlaps with the first of three, three-hour halfpipe training sessions for that event scheduled later next week.

The 22-year-old Gu, one of the biggest names at the Milan Cortina Games, told reporters she reached out to organizers at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), which sets the schedule.

She said she wasn't asking for special treatment, just the same amount of practice as everyone else was getting, and she even looked for compromises, like joining the snowboarders' training on the halfpipe. FIS told her it couldn't make a change for one athlete because it wouldn't be fair to the rest.

“I’m disappointed in FIS,” Gu said. “I think the Olympics should epitomize aspiration, and I think being able to do something that’s beyond the ordinary should be celebrated instead of punished.”

FIS scheduled three training sessions before qualifying, compared to two for a typical World Cup event. Spokesman Bruno Sassi said “every effort has been made to facilitate the best possible training” for the athletes.

“But as we have already seen at these Games, for athletes who choose to compete in multiple disciplines and/or multiple events, conflicts can sometimes be inevitable,” he said.

Earlier in the Olympics, Ester Ledecka had to choose between defending her snowboard title and entering her favorite skiing event, the downhill, some five hours away in Cortina d’Ampezzo. She picked snowboarding (where she finished fifth) and instead skied in the super-G (where she crashed and did not finish).

Gu — who was born in the United States but competes for China — hasn't skied on a halfpipe since a World Cup event in December. She hasn't competed in big air since winning the gold medal in the discipline four years ago in Beijing. That was part of her three-medal haul in China — something she's on track to repeat in Italy.

Big air and slopestyle are essentially cousins — the big jumps on the big air course aren't unlike the three big jumps in slopestyle. But halfpipe is a different and more dangerous undertaking. Of Gu's 20 World Cup victories, 15 have come in that event.

“Halfpipe is an entirely different event,” Gu said. “It's like sprinting and a marathon. They're both running but they're completely different sports.”

At the last Olympics, Gu's slopestyle contest ended a few hours before halfpipe training began. She chowed on a chive pancake at the bottom of the hill as she wound her way through interviews, then hurried back up the lift to start training for the third part of her Olympic journey.

This time, Gu came close to not having to worry about the scheduling conflict. She fell during her second jump in big air qualifying, turning the last attempt into an all-or-nothing jump to make the final. It was similar to what happened in slopestyle and, just as in slopestyle, she came through.

“Even though I haven't done it in four years, I still know how to ski,” she said. “I still know my body and I can still do flips, and I'm not really thinking about a medal, or any color of medal.”

She is, however, thinking about her schedule — which will be breakneck with or without that first halfpipe training session.

After Monday's big air final, the halfpipe qualifiers are Thursday. The final is Saturday. It means Gu will headline the last of the 25 medal events scheduled in the action-sports park.

“I think it’s really unfair. I think it’s punishing excellence, to be completely honest with you,” Gu said. “Because I dare to do three events, and this is making it completely impossible to train fairly for the third event.”

Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson contributed to this report.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

China's Eileen Gu warms up before the women's freestyle skiing big air qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

China's Eileen Gu smiles as she waits for her score while competing in the women's freestyle skiing big air qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

China's Eileen Gu gets up after crashing as she competes in the women's freestyle skiing big air qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

China's Eileen Gu crashes as she competes in the women's freestyle skiing big air qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

China's Eileen Gu, left, gets a hug from her mother Yan Gu as she competes in the women's freestyle skiing big air qualifications at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Luka Doncic is almost certainly going to win the NBA scoring title this season. And it's now very possible that he doesn't make the All-NBA team.

That's rare, but it might be this season's reality.

The roster of award-caliber players who won't be winning awards this season continues to grow, with Doncic — the Los Angeles Lakers standout guard and MVP candidate — now out with a left hamstring injury. Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards is certain to miss the league's 65-game award eligibility threshold as well after he was held out Thursday because of illness.

Doncic has played 64 games, so he would fall just short of the mark if his hamstring issue keeps him out for the remainder of the regular season -- which has barely over a week remaining. It's worth noting that BetMGM Sportsbook, among others, took Doncic off the list of MVP betting options following his injury Thursday.

“Health is wealth. ... We'll see what happens,” Lakers star LeBron James said.

Edwards can now only reach a maximum of 64 games as well, so he won’t be on the ballot for most major NBA awards either.

It was collectively bargained — meaning the league and the players association agreed on the terms — and this is the third season of it being part of the NBA rules.

It applies to player eligibility for five awards — MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player, the All-NBA Team and the All-Defensive Team. Players have to either play in 65 regular-season games (with some minutes-played minimums in there as well), or at least 62 games before suffering a “season-ending injury."

But even if Doncic's hamstring keeps him out for the rest of the regular season, it wouldn't be classified as “season-ending” unless a doctor — jointly selected by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association — says he wouldn't be able to play again through May 31.

There is a grievance process and even a way to challenge the rule citing extraordinary circumstances, but neither would be easily utilized.

Five of the league's six highest-paid players this season — Golden State's Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston's Jayson Tatum — aren't eligible for awards. Denver's Nikola Jokic is the exception on the highest-paid list, and he'd likely be ineligible if he misses another game as well.

There were 23 players on the list of those winning MVP, MIP, DPOY, All-NBA and All-Defense last season. Of those, at least 10 are out of the running for honors this season: Antetokounmpo, Curry, Edwards, James, Tatum, Detroit's Cade Cunningham, Indiana teammates Tyrese Haliburton and Ivica Zubac, Utah's Jaren Jackson Jr. and Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams.

Another four award winners from a year ago — Jokic, Oklahoma City's Lu Dort, Golden State's Draymond Green and Cleveland's Evan Mobley — aren't at 65 games yet this season but, for now anyway, seem on pace to get there.

Never say never. The union wants changes to the policy, and it's certain to come up in their conversations with the league office. But many players — and even Andre Iguodala, now the head of the players' association — have said in recent years that the 65-game rule is a good thing.

The league doesn't seem inclined to make a change based solely on what would appear to be an extraordinary number of award candidates not hitting the threshold in one year.

“I think it is working,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last month. “I think if you look at the numbers, the pre-implementation of this rule, numbers were going in the wrong direction. I may have this a little bit off: I think the three years before we adopted this rule, almost a third of the All-NBA players had not played 80% of the games. That was a huge issue for the league.”

As we said, it's rare, but it has happened. Twice, to be exact.

— 1968-69: Elvin Hayes won the scoring title as a rookie, then wasn't even All-NBA — and didn't win Rookie of the Year, either.

— 1975-76: Bob McAdoo won his third consecutive scoring title and was second in the MVP race — but didn't make All-NBA. Players voted for MVP in those days, and McAdoo was an extremely close second behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Dave Cowens was third in the MVP vote but got the second-team All-NBA nod at center, with Abdul-Jabbar the first-team pick.

Doncic could join that list. He was scheduled for an MRI on Friday to determine the extent of his hamstring injury. It's not mathematically certain yet that he wins the scoring title, but it would take something extraordinary for it not to happen.

He's averaging 33.5 points per game, with Gilgeous-Alexander at 31.6 per game. For Gilgeous-Alexander — last season's scoring champion — to overtake Doncic, he would need to go on an unbelievable run. An example: He'd need to score 292 points over the final five games to take over the top spot, and nobody other than Wilt Chamberlain has had a five-game run like that.

Of the previous 79 scoring champions, 64 were first-team All-NBA and 13 were second-team.

Jokic is going to win the league's rebounding and assist titles, while averaging a triple-double yet again. But he's also not assured yet of being on the award ballots.

The thresholds are different.

While the award mandate is 65 games in most cases, players are eligible for most statistical awards if they play in 58 games (or 70% of the season). There are different standards for some stat awards, such as field-goal percentage (minimum 300 made), free-throw percentage (minimum 125 made) and 3-point percentage (minimum 82 made).

A player can win a stat award while appearing in less than 58 games.

For example, last season, San Antonio's Victor Wembanyama played only 46 games but still won the blocked shot title. Even if he played in the minimum 58 games and recorded no blocks in the 12 games needed to reach that number he still would have been ahead of the runner-up, Utah's Walker Kessler.

AP NBA: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NBA

Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) looks to make a shot-attempt in the fourth quarter of a loss to the Detroit Pistons in an NBA basketball game Monday, March 23, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic warms up before an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rob Gray)

Detroit Pistons forward Ronald Holland II (5) talks with guard Cade Cunningham (2), who did not play due to an injury, during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Toronto Raptors Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

Los Angeles Lakers forward/guard Luka Dončić (77) drives against Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, April. 2, 2026, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Gerald Leong)