Olympics Schedule Clash Leaves Top Freeskier Feeling Short‑Spoken

Eileen Gu, the 22‑year‑old Chinese athlete who won silver in slopestyle earlier this week, expressed disappointment after the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) refused to adjust her training timetable for the halfpipe event. She is the only woman competing in all three freestyle disciplines—slopestyle, halfpipe and big air—at the Milan Cortina Games. The final for big air on Monday overlapped with the first of three halfpipe training sessions that were set for later in the week. Gu had contacted FIS, asking simply for equal practice time rather than special treatment. She even offered to train with the snowboarders on the halfpipe as a compromise. The federation replied that altering the schedule for one athlete would be unfair to everyone else and declined her request. “I’m disappointed in FIS, ” she said, noting that the Olympics should celebrate ambition rather than penalize it. FIS’s schedule gives three training blocks before qualifying, compared to two in a normal World Cup event. A spokesperson explained that conflicts are sometimes unavoidable for athletes who compete across multiple disciplines.Earlier in the Games, Czech rider Ester Ledecka chose to snowboard instead of ski a downhill event that was five hours away, finishing fifth in snowboarding but crashing in the super‑G. Gu has not skied a halfpipe since December’s World Cup and hasn’t competed in big air since her 2018 Beijing gold, though she still feels confident. She described halfpipe as a distinct challenge, comparing it to the difference between sprinting and running a marathon. Last Olympics, her slopestyle run ended just before halfpipe training began; this year the schedule almost forced a similar conflict. After falling in her second big air qualifier, she made a decisive final jump to reach the final, mirroring her earlier slopestyle experience. Gu’s remaining halfpipe events—qualifiers on Thursday and the final on Saturday—will require her to perform under tight time constraints. She believes this scheduling inequity punishes athletes who strive for excellence by forcing them to compromise training.