China's Eileen Gu withdraws from World Cup Stubai after fall in training, but not serious

STUBAI, Austria - Chinese star freeskier Eileen Gu withdrew from the season's slopestyle World Cup opener in Stubai, Austria on Friday, following a fall in training just a few days ago.

But the current world championships winner said "it was not serious" and she will come back soon in the next World Cup in the United States.

Gu didn't show up in Friday's qualification and she explained that it was because she had fallen in training a few days ago. Although it was not serious and she felt much better now, she still decided not to take risk.

Earlier this month, Gu become the first female skier to land a double cork 1440 while training in Stubai. There are mounting expectations on the 18-year-old talent as she has hit an incredible list of achievements with only two full seasons of international competition - the first freeskier ever to win slopestyle and halfpipe World Cup competitions on back-to-back days at the same venue, the first athlete ever to win three medals in X Games debut last season, and then following that X Games achievement up by becoming the first freeskier to win three medals at one World Championships when she took slopestyle gold, halfpipe gold, and big air bronze at the Aspen 2021 World Championships.

Gu told Xinhua that she would head to the United States in the coming days and hopefully, she will make her season's debut at the Big Air World Cup in Steamboat, Colorado.

Olympic silver medallist Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland topped the women's qualification on Friday, with Estonia's Kelly Sildaru, the four-time slopestyle X Games winner, was second. Johanne Killi from Norway ranked third to reach the final.

Another Chinese Yang Shuorui, 17, placed in the 15th and failed to make it into the women's final.

In the men's competitions, Sarah Hoefflin, the Olympic champion from Switzerland, Canada's Megan Oldham, American Maggie Voisin, Briton Kirsty Muir, and Austria's Laura Wallner are all through to Saturday's final.

It was for the fifth time that the ski resort in western Austria staged the World Cup season opener for slopestyle. With the Beijing Winter Olympics only two and half months to go, there are just three slopestyle World Cup competitions remaining on the calendar so the pressure on athletes is getting immense.