Gu grabs more history for China

Gu avoided the worst of the storm during her title-clinching first run on Saturday, but the wind still added an extra layer of difficulty to her routines.

"It is absolutely blown right now. It was super windy today," Gu said of Saturday's weather. "A lot of girls had to push through really tough conditions. Big shout out to everybody out there.

"Me personally, I took a biggish fall during training and shook up my confidence a little bit and wasn't sure how good I was going to feel during the contest.

"To come back and be able to land my full run makes me really proud of myself, to be able to push through that pressure and self-doubt."

Speaking of her versatility, Gu told The Aspen Times after Saturday's triumph: "I had low expectations, but again exceeded them and I'm super happy.

"It feels absolutely insane to me. Being able to ski every event or being able to be a well-rounded skier has always been really important. I don't really want to think of myself as a halfpipe skier or slopestyle skier. I just want to be a skier."

After leading in Thursday's slopestyle qualification, Gu threw down the gauntlet on Saturday by scoring 84.23 points in her stunning first run, leading her closest rival by almost 10 points.

A failed double 1080 attempt resulted in a 40.65 score in her second run, but her first routine could not be bettered and history was made. Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud finished second (77.15), and Canada's Megan Oldham (76.18) took third.

Just 24 hours earlier, Gu had claimed China's first-ever gold at the biennial freeski worlds.

After finishing seventh in Wednesday's qualification, Gu posted a leading score of 93.00 points in her first run, which also proved to be unassailable. Gu still maintained a high level in her next runs, with scores of 92.50 and 89.00.