(Photo credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images)

LIVIGNO, Italy -- China's Eileen Gu bounced back from a mistake to qualify on Thursday for the Winter Olympics freestyle skiing halfpipe final, giving the defending champion a chance to pick up yet another medal.

Gu crashed on her first run, after clipping the edge of the U-shaped ramp that defines the halfpipe discipline, but more than made up for it with a well-executed second attempt.

'I'm glad I was able to reinforce my sense of self-belief at the moment when it counted,' she said.

With 12 out of 21 competitors going through to Saturday's final, Gu came fifth with a score of 86.5, out of a maximum of 100. Great Britain's Zoe Atkin, the 2025 world champion, led the pack on 91.5 points, followed by China's Li Fanghui with 90.

Atkin prevailed despite pre-competition nerves.

'I'm really happy I was able to kind of manage that nervousness and put down a clean run,' she said. 'It's honestly a really big relief, so I'm super excited for Saturday.'

NASTY CRASH FOR CANADA'S SHARPE

Canada's Cassie Sharpe, who won halfpipe gold in 2018 and silver in 2022, came in third with 88.25 points, but crashed badly on her second run, prompting a medical intervention.

Rescue operations took several tense minutes during which the crowd fell quiet, but spectators cheered in relief as Sharpe was fit enough to wave her arms while taken away on a stretcher.

In Milan Cortina, 22-year-old Gu has already picked up silver medals in slopestyle and big air, turning her into the most decorated woman in the history of her sport.

The American-born freeskier, who switched to compete for her mother's native China in 2019, also won golds in big air and halfpipe, plus a silver in slopestyle, at the 2022 Beijing Games.

In halfpipe, riders slide across a U-shaped snow ramp and perform acrobatics in the air. They are awarded points based on height, difficulty, variety of tricks, and other factors.

--Reuters, special to Field Level Media