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Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu celebrates after the freestyle skiing women's freeski slopestyle final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Livigno Snow Park-Slopestyle. Oliver Weiken/dpa
Freestyle skiing superstar Eileen Gu has criticized the sport's ruling body FIS for scheduling conflicts at the Milan/Cortina Winter Olympics.
The 22-year-old Chinese skier complained that the big air final on Monday evening will overlap with the halfpipe training.
Gu has qualified for the big air final and will, therefore, miss an entire training session for the halfpipe.
"I have asked for fair options like joining one training with the snowboarders, or getting even one hour alone to train, but to no avail," she wrote on Instagram on Sunday.
Halfpipe competitors have three three-hour training sessions, one per day on the three days — Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday — leading up to Thursday's qualification round.
"No other woman in the halfpipe field is competing in another event, and for good reason - Halfpipe is different from slope and big air, and demands its own training time accordingly."
Gu, however, said that "daring to be the only woman to compete in three events should not be penalized - making finals in one event should not disadvantage me in another."
"This was a totally avoidable issue and I am saddened by the hardline stance FIS has chosen to take."
The California-born star stressed, however, that she will "give big air my best shot" as she aims for a second medal at the 2026 Games after slopestyle silver.
Gu is the reigning big air champion and she also won halfpipe gold at Beijing 2022.
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