Switzerland's Gremaud wins gold in women's freeski slopestyle

Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud has won gold in the women's freeski slopestyle at the Beijing Olympics.

Gremaud, 22, who won silver in slopestyle at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 and bronze in the Big Air event last week, held back her firepower until her second run, which catapulted her to the top of the rankings on Tuesday.

China's "Snow Princess" Eileen Gu went all out from the beginning, landing a clean and controlled first run, but hit the deck on her second try, forcing her to sit on her skis to take a breath.

The fall piled the pressure on Gu ahead of her third and final run and while she earned 86.23 it was not enough to top Gremaud's best of 86.56, with Estonia's Kelly Sildaru taking bronze with 82.06.

Gu hugged her fellow medallists after her score was called out, smiling broadly at the camera, making a heart gesture with her arms and waving to fans in the stands.

 'I felt relieved'

"I wanted to get on the podium more than anything, so landing that (third run) I felt happy, I felt relieved," Gu said, adding that she had put herself under intense pressure to land the double cork 1080 in her third and final run.

Gu said she would think about the narrow difference between her best score and that of the Swiss skier for a while, but said she was "honoured" to take silver and compete at the Olympics.

"I didn't win the contest but I still walked away with a silver medal after a gold medal (at Big Air) ... so I'm proud of myself," she said.

Gu competed in the US team as a child but switched to compete for China in 2019.

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