China's Gu Ailing competes in the freestyle skiing women's freeski slopestyle final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Livigno Snow Park-Slopestyle, in Livigno (Valtellina), on February 9, 2026. (Photo: People's Daily)

LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's freestyle skiing star Gu Ailing settled for silver in the women's slopestyle on Monday at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, once again finishing behind Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud.

(From L) Silver medallist China's Gu Ailing, gold medallist Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud and bronze medallist Canada's Megan Oldham celebrate on the podium after the freestyle skiing women's freeski slopestyle final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Livigno Snow Park-Slopestyle, in Livigno (Valtellina), on February 9, 2026. (Photo: People's Daily)

Competing second to last, Gu led after the opening run with a field-high 86.58 points, while Gremaud posted 83.60. The pair opened a commanding double-digit gap over the rest of the field.

China's Gu Ailing competes in the freestyle skiing women's freeski slopestyle final during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Livigno Snow Park-Slopestyle, in Livigno (Valtellina), on February 9, 2026. (Photo: People's Daily)

The head-to-head intensified in the second run as errors spread through the competition. Gu faltered and scored just 23 points, while Gremaud delivered the only near-flawless run of the round to move into first with 86.96.

Gu was unable to mount a comeback in the final run, making an early mistake on the rail section - similar to her error in the qualifying - and failed to improve her score.