Eileen Gu was primed to be China’s golden girl at Beijing 2022 and she played her part to the full on Friday. If the 18-year-old wasn’t a global superstar who transcends sport before the Games, she most certainly is now after winning a second gold medal on her Winter Olympics debut. Even before the competition was over, Gu had gold in the bag in the women’s freeski half-pipe, with no athlete able to challenge her stellar 95.5 in the second run at the Genting Snow Park. While the rest of the world squabbled about whether the San Francisco-born part-time model was American or China, Gu simply went about her business, saying she felt “a deep-seated sense of gratitude” after completing her Olympics campaign with two golds and a silver – the first woman to win medals in three different freeski disciplines. “The overriding emotion is this deep-seated sense of gratitude and resolution – this all coming together, years and years in the making,” she said, wearing a panda hat after the victory ceremony. Eileen Gu makes history! With her GOLD medal in the freestyle skiing halfpipe, Eileen Gu is the first freestyle skier of any gender to win three medals at a single #WinterOlympics . pic.twitter.com/QAW6pvDqxm — NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) February 18, 2022 Gu previously won gold in the women’s big air and silver in the slopestyle, helping to take China’s overall gold tally to eight – surpassing expectations. China have 14 medals overall with four silvers and two bronze. China’s Twitter-like social media platform went wild after her victory but her popularity is not confined to the mainland with fans all over the world hailing her achievements. Maybe I’m in the minority, but I cheer for all Olympic athletes. I don’t care what country they represent. I want everyone to succeed. Seeing the internet hate for Asian-American athletes like Eileen Gu sickens me. Can’t we just applaud greatness? pic.twitter.com/CgGHW2cOSz — Sean Cronin (@iamseancronin) February 15, 2022 “Gu makes its look so easy! I really can’t see anyone else winning this but her,” a user from England tweeted. “Gu basically just won the half-pipe gold medal on her warm-up run,” said another. China’s other medal hope for Friday, Ning Zhongyan, finished fifth in the men’s speedskating 1,000m event at the National Speed Skating Oval, 0.68 of a second behind the Netherland’s gold medallist Thomas Krol, who clocked 1:07.92. Canada’s Laurent Dubreuil was second in 1:08.32 with Norway’s Haavard Holmefjord Lorentzen taking bronze in 1:08.48. China, however, did set up a potential gold medal bid for Saturday when Han Cong and Sui Wenjing swept to the top of the standings in the figure skating pairs with another world record effort after their team event performance last week. Their stunning 84.41 points in the short programme put them in first place ahead of two Russian pairs, Vladimir Morozov and Evgenia Tarasova, and Aleksandr Galliamov and Anastasia Mishina. They will be the favourites in the free skate. Widely regarded as one of her best events, Gu’s gold in half-pipe came to her without much doubt as she pulled off commanding runs with peerless scores. None of Gu’s runs had scored below 90 in the competition, including qualification runs. Her first run delivered a 93.25, with her defining second run raising the bar to 95.5 points. Winning her third medal felt like a “coming-together moment” for Gu, who had switched to represent China from Team USA. “It’s like letting out a deep breath.” Gu was seen hugging two staff members from Team China on the slope before her final run. Knowing the gold medal was in her hand, she used her third run as a victory lap, performing stylish tricks rather than the usual technical turns and take-offs. She scored 30. “I was very emotional at the top and I chose to do a victory lap because I felt like for the first time I really deserved it and I really earned it,” she said. “It was a great punctuation on this amazing journey up to the Olympics.” Canada’s Cassie Sharpe took silver on 90.75 points, while another Canadian, Rachael Karker, claimed bronze on 87.75. But all eyes were on the magnetic Gu, who has become the face of the Beijing Games over the past two weeks. She joked on Thursday that her grandmother, who had never seen her compete, would be “unfazed and unimpressed” by the massive attention when she arrived to watch Friday’s final. Gu has become a sporting icon in China and she said she has received “hundreds of messages” from young girls who have been inspired to take up skiing because of her. She admitted that the pressure “started to catch up” with her before Friday’s final, but she said it was “immensely rewarding” to have an impact off the slope as well as on it. “I’m still trying to figure out my own life – the fact that I’ve been able to create some kind of positive change already has exceeded my expectations,” she said. She is preparing to start studies at Stanford University later this year and said she had “no idea” whether she would continue to compete in freestyle skiing. “I love skiing still, I would love to continue competing, but in terms of resources and time and whatever else I’m juggling, it just depends,” she said. “I’m going to do whatever feels right, and hopefully I’ll be able to create some kind of positive change out of any position that I’m in.” Meanwhile, Gu said her immediate plan was to eat lamb hotpot with her mother and grandmother. “From the opening ceremony to today I was skiing every single day, so I’m really tired,” she said. “But I feel at peace, I feel grateful, I feel passionate and I feel proud.” In biathlon, Norway’s Johannes Thingnes Boe won his fourth gold medal of the Beijing Games, and fifth medal overall, with victory in the men’s 15km mass start event. Despite failing to shoot cleanly (incurring four total penalties), the 2020 mass start world champion was dynamite on his skis, and came home in a winning time of 38:14.4 – 40 seconds ahead of Sweden’s Martin Ponsiluoma in second. Boe was aided by some poor shooting from France’s Quentin Fillon Maillet, who was looking strong for his sixth medal of the Games but suffered five shooting penalties to drop him into fourth. Boe’s compatriot Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen won his second medal of Beijing 2022 with the bronze. Canada earned the first curling medal of the Games, beating USA 8-5 in the bronze play-off. In the men’s big air freeski event, Switzerland’s Ryan Regez took gold ahead of compatriot Alex Fiva with Russia’s Sergey Ridzik winning bronze. The Swiss found more success in Alpine skiing with Michelle Gisin winning gold in the women’s combined slalom, with teammate Wendy Holdener winning silver. The bronze went to Italy’s Federica Brignone. Additional reporting by AFP