Eileen Gu wins second Beijing gold as Zoe Atkin falls short of freestyle medal

Eileen Gu sealed her second gold medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics as Zoe Atkin’s hopes of a sealing a first medal of the Games for Great Britain crashed and burned in the women’s freestyle halfpipe in Zhangjiakou.

Gu, the US-born 18-year-old who competes for China, added to her Big Air gold and slopestyle silver with a second run score of 95.25, which proved enough to shunt Canadian duo Cassie Sharpe and Rachael Karker into second and third places respectively.

“It has changed my life for ever,” said Gu. “It has been two straight weeks of the most intense highs and lows I’ve ever experienced in my life.

“I’m so honoured to be here, and I’m even more honoured by this platform that I’ve been given to be able to spread this message and inspire young girls through my own passion for the sport and to be able hopefully to spread the sport to people that might not have heard of it before.”

Atkin had delivered the fourth highest score in Thursday’s qualification round, raising hopes that she might emulate her older sister Izzy, who won a bronze medal in women’s slopestyle in Pyeongchang in 2018.

But Atkin crashed in her first two runs, losing a ski in both cases, then aborted a lacklustre final attempt that scored 73.25 to finish ninth of the 12 finalists.