Australian Indra Brown finishes fifth in women’s freeski halfpipe, Eileen Gu wins gold

“She’s awesome. She’s so amazing, I mean, she’s incredible … the consistency, the execution, I think she’s fantastic. I’m really excited to watch her ski [over the next four years].”

Brown’s coach is American Jamie Melton, who also coached Gu when she was bursting onto the freestyle skiing scene at the same age. She said it was “really cool” to have Gu’s backing.

“I idolise her,” she said. “To have her give me a hug at the end of my last run at the Olympics is pretty special.”

Brown landed all three of her runs in the final, and increased the degree of difficulty run-on-run to end with her third attempt.

“I tried to build every run, to try and up my score every run, which I did, and then in my last run … stoked on that run, never put it down in competition, so I was really happy,” Brown said.

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“It’s incredible. I just wanted to come out here and show everyone what I could do, so by doing that and getting this result, it’s amazing.”

Though she is still so young, it’s obvious where Brown’s improvement will come from: the pace of her movement in the pipe was notably slower than the competitiors who finished above her, as was the height – or amplitude – she achieved at the top of each of her tricks. The highest she climbed was three metres, compared to Gu’s four and Atkin’s five. That will surely come as her body grows, and as she grows into it.

“It’s time in the pipe, trusting yourself, building speed each lap and just being confident with your skiing,” Brown said.

There is no rest for Brown, who will immediately depart Italy to compete in the FIS Freestyle Junior World Ski Championships in Canada.

Gu, meanwhile, was basking in the history she had created immediately after the event, and said she had no intention of slowing down.

“Six for six is pretty hard,” she said.

“I’m so in love with skiing, and I think this past Olympic cycle, especially, I’ve broken through so much mental gunk that had kind of built up after the last Olympics. I took nine months off. I don’t even really want to do that [this time] … I have to go to [Milan] fashion week now and, like, do my fashion work, the other job. But after that, I kind of just want to go back and ski more.

“Does that sound crazy? Like, I’m kind of into it.”

But by the time she left the mixed zone and arrived for the official medal winners press conference, Gu received some tragic news: her grandmother had passed away.

“She was a really big part of my life growing up and someone I looked up to immensely,” Gu said through tears.

“She was a fighter, and I think what’s so interesting is that a lot of people just cruise through life, but she was a steamship. This woman commanded life, and she grabbed it by the reins and she made it what she wanted it to be. She inspired me so much.

“The last time I saw her before I came over to the Olympics, she was very sick, so I knew this was a possibility. I didn’t promise her I was going to win, but I did promise her that I was going to be brave, like she has been brave, and that’s why I keep referring to this theme of betting on myself and being brave and taking risks.

“It actually goes back to that promise [between] me and my grandma, so I’m really happy I was able to uphold that and hopefully do her proud, but it’s also a really difficult time for me.”

The Winter Olympic Games is broadcast on the Nine Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.

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