Freestyle skiing superstar Gu Ailing has reiterated her intention to promote her sport globally while choosing to represent China on the international stage with yet another Winter Games fast approaching.

China's two-time freeski Olympic gold medalist Gu — also known as Eileen in the United States, the country where she was born — proved that she remains the person to beat in the halfpipe discipline entering the 2025-26 season, after completing two clean runs on Thursday — leading a strong qualifying field and reaching the final round of the FIS World Cup series' Chongli leg in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.

The quality and consistency of Gu's performances prevailed on Thursday, following her triumphant debut in The Snow League competition at the same venue last week, after she stomped back-to-back 900-degree spins in her second qualification run to score a field-high 92.75 points to advance into Saturday's final.

Should she pull off another flawless run on Saturday, Gu will be celebrating her record-extending fifth victory at the Yunding Snow Park — a Beijing venue for freestyle skiing and snowboarding which is part of the Secret Garden resort in Chongli.