Finishing on a high

Even with the golden girl absent and luck not always on their side, China's freeskiers and snowboarders have landed plenty of positive takeaways from the final world championships before Milano-Cortina 2026.

For sure, star skier Gu Ailing was missed at the just-concluded worlds, with the twotime Olympic champion sidelined by a shoulder injury. However, the Chinese contingent has proved over the past fortnight that it has more to offer at next year's Winter Olympics than just the celebrated all-arounder, as the gap left by Gu was filled by her compatriots, who helped Team China climb the podium at the season-ending FIS showpiece in Switzerland.

The multisport world championships served as a major rehearsal for the upcoming Olympics in Italy, with the world's finest from across eight disciplines, including slopestyle, halfpipe and aerials, having their tricks, runs and, most importantly, Olympic medal prospects tested and evaluated at Engadin, a valley in Switzerland's eastern Alps, over the past fortnight.

Among all the Chinese athletes raring to go at next year's Games, freeskier Li Fanghui has emerged as another medal hopeful, alongside Gu, after the 2020 Youth Winter Olympics medalist pulled off a pair of consistent, quality runs in the women's halfpipe final on Sunday, making a strong impression on the senior stage, despite narrowly missing out on gold, outscored by a slender 0.5 points by her British rival Zoe Atkin.

After Atkin made up for a first-run fall by scoring 93.5 points on her second, under pressure, Li dropped in last, but connected with a string of dazzling tricks, including a start-off right 900 safety, a switch left 720 Japan and a right 1080 safety, to complete another almost flawless run, following her 90.25-point first effort, at just her second worlds.

It wasn't enough, though, as Li took a deep sigh at the judges' decision to score her second run at 93 points, just a little shy of winning the final, where only the best run counts.