Eileen Gu becomes first freestyle skier to reach 20 World Cup wins

Eileen Gu Wins Slopestyle World Cup Gold in Laax, Reaches Record 20th Career Victory

Eileen Gu of China captured the women’s freeski slopestyle World Cup title at the Laax Open in Switzerland on Saturday, securing her 20th career World Cup victory to become the first freestyle skier to reach that milestone. The win came less than a month before the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, where Gu will look to add slopestyle gold to her collection.

The two-time Olympic champion dominated from the start, posting a first-run score of 85.13 points that no competitor could match. With victory already secured, Gu attempted to push further on her second run but crashed while trying a double cork 1080, landing hard on her right side.fis-ski

“I’m OK. I’m not really a fan of taking a victory lap, so I wanted to do something to keep pushing and display my best performance here,” Gu said afterward. “But that’s part of the sport; sometimes you fall, and that’s alright.”usnews

Historic Milestone

When informed that the victory was her 20th World Cup win, Gu appeared surprised. “I didn’t even think of that,” she remarked. “It’s my twentieth win, which is incredibly special. First off, I can’t believe I’ve reached that number, and secondly, each victory becomes tougher. People sometimes take it for granted, but every win the challenge increases significantly. I’m genuinely proud of my consistency”.olympics

The result marked Gu’s first victory of the 2025-26 season after she finished 29th at the slopestyle opener in Stubai, Austria in November. Marin Hamill of the United States finished second with 71.38 points, while Austria’s Lara Wolf took third with 67.85.fis-ski

Mathilde Gremaud, the defending Olympic slopestyle champion from Switzerland who edged Gu for gold at Beijing 2022, finished seventh with a score of 60.03.wikipedia

Road to Milano Cortina

The Laax Open, held from January 14-18, represented the final opportunity for athletes to accumulate World Cup points before the Olympic qualification window closed. Freestyle skiing slopestyle events at Milano Cortina 2026 will be contested at Livigno Snow Park, with the women’s final scheduled for February 9.laaxopen

Gu, who won gold in both halfpipe and big air at Beijing 2022 while taking silver in slopestyle, now enters the Olympics as a frontrunner to claim the one discipline that eluded her four years ago.usnews

In the men’s event, Norway’s Birk Ruud claimed his third consecutive Laax title with a first-run score of 85.08, followed by Austria’s Matej Svancer in second and Canada’s Evan McEachran in third.fis-ski