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BEIJING: Teenager Eileen Gu nailed a new trick in the final run of the freeski Big Air on Tuesday, delivering host nation China its quickest gold rush at a Winter Games.
The Chinese capital claimed the San Francisco-born Gu as a daughter of Beijing after she pulled off an impressive “1620,” a trick she had never done before in competition, to beat French skier Tess Ledeux.
The 18-year-old said she would celebrate by eating a chocolate bar by San Francisco confectioner Ghirardelli, play the piano and write in her journal before getting back to practice ahead of her slopestyle event on Feb 14.
“I brought a package of holiday-themed peppermint bark Ghirardelli chocolate, so I’m going to open that today. I’ve been saving it for my first final. It’s kind of an exciting moment,” she told reporters.
Gu’s gold, along with podium-topping performances by speedskater Ren Ziwei and his mixed team relay compatriots, took China’s medal tally to three golds and two silver medals since the opening ceremony on Friday night.
Other glittering performances on the slopes and ice included Austrian Matthias Mayer, who became the first man to win an Alpine skiing gold at three consecutive Games after claiming the super-G title.
American Nathan Chen shocked Japan’s “Ice Prince” Yuzuru Hanyu with a world record in the figure skating short programme, giving him a massive lead in their battle for the gold medal.
Despite enormous obstacles created by the Covid-19 pandemic, Beijing’s snow spectacle has triggered an early gold rush for winter sports goods in China, with online purchases of equipment and clothing surging.
Olympic fever has even spread to China’s stock market with a buying frenzy unleashed on shares linked to the Games.
Organisers on Tuesday said more local spectators would be invited to watch, in a show of confidence that Covid-19 is under control within the closed loop that separates Games personnel from the Chinese public.
Watching Gu from the stands on Tuesday was Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, whose whereabouts became a cause for international concern in November when she appeared to accuse a party official of sexual assault.
Peng was seen in the stands wearing a black knit hat with the Olympic rings on them, a black coat with the Chinese flag and a mask with the Beijing 2022 logo.
Gu said she was honoured by her attendance.
“I’m really grateful that she’s happy and healthy and out there doing her things again,” an ebullient Gu said after her win.
The freestyle skier was less forthcoming about whether she still holds a US passport, refusing to directly answer questions about her citizenship.
China does not allow dual nationality, and state media have previously reported that the 18-year-old renounced her US citizenship after she became a Chinese national at the age of 15. Gu would not confirm that on Tuesday.
That did not stop host city Beijing from claiming the US born Gu as its own, calling her “a Beijing athlete” in a congratulatory note on its official Wechat account after her victory. Gu’s mother was born in Beijing.
Moments after her dazzling performance, the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s powerful graft watchdog released an exclusive interview with Gu, an unusual move for the party organ whose primary function is to catch and condemn members who have broken party rules and ethical codes.
In the first hour after her triumph, Gu topped the “hot search chart” on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media, with seven of the top 10 searches about Gu.
But by the afternoon, figure skater Hanyu had replaced Gu as the most searched topic after his unexpected error on a day when the US women’s hockey team lost 4-2 to rival Canada in the preliminary round.
Hanyu has won the last two Olympic titles and his showdown with triple world champion Chen is one of the most eagerly anticipated events in Beijing.
But Hanyu has a fight on his hands to win a third gold medal after Chen smashed his Japanese rival’s world record in the opening programme, scoring 113.97 to comfortably beat Hanyu’s previous short programme best of 111.82.
The all-important free skate is on Thursday.
Hanyu, 27, made a mistake on his first jump and told reporters he thought the error might have been caused by a hole in the ice made by another skater.
“Actually, I feel really shocked today,” he said. “But I have one more chance in the free programme.”
In the mountains of Yanqing, north of Beijing, Mayer overcame one of his poles getting stuck in the start house to win the men’s super-G.
It was a remarkable result for the Austrian, who won this title four years ago at the Pyeongchang Games but has had little World Cup success in the discipline since.
American Ryan Cochran-Siegle took a surprise silver just 0.04sec behind, with Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde claiming bronze.
Dual winter sports champion Ester Ledecka also successfully defended her snowboard parallel giant slalom title.
Czech Ledecka made history four years ago when she became the first woman to win gold in two different sports at a Winter Olympics, taking skiing and snowboarding titles.
She will again switch from snowboard to skis on Thursday as she goes in the super-G.
Other golds went to Germany’s Natalie Geisenberger, who won the women’s singles for a luge record-equalling sixth Olympic medal, while Italy enjoyed a historic triumph in curling.
Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini’s victory in the mixed doubles was their country’s first Olympic medal in the sport.
Jonna Sundling won the women’s cross-country sprint title, helping Sweden take the lead in gold medals with four.
Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo defended his Olympic sprint title for Norway, who are tied for second in golds with three.