China's Gu claims historic slopestyle gold at Freeski World Championships

WASHINGTON - China's Freeski hopeful Gu Ailing made history on Saturday by winning the country's first slopestyle title at the FIS Freeski World Championships in Aspen.

With history-making halfpipe and slopestyle world championships, 17-year-old Gu became the first Chinese Freeskier with double golds at the same World Championships.

After leading in Thursday's qualification, Gu set the title-winning tone on Saturday with 84.23 points in her first run, bettering her nearest follower by almost 10 points.

Despite suffering some mishaps and getting 40.65 points in the next run, Gu withstood her opponents' challenge to take away the crown with a match-leading score set in the first run.

Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud finished second with 77.15 points, and Canadian Megan Oldham rounded out the podium with 76.18 points.

Andri Ragettli from Switzerland won the men's slopestyle gold medal with 90.65 points, with the American duo of Colby Stevenson and Alexander Hall rounding out the top three.

Gu is also poised to compete in the big air event, with qualification scheduled on Monday before the final on Tuesday.