Eileen Gu and Mao Bingqiang win freestyle skiing titles in New Zealand
Hu Shichen
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Eileen Gu in action at the FIS Free Ski World Cup 2019 Slope-style Event in Seiser Alm, Italy, on January 25, 2019. /VCG Photo

Eileen Gu in action at the FIS Free Ski World Cup 2019 Slope-style Event in Seiser Alm, Italy, on January 25, 2019. /VCG Photo

The finals of the FIS Australia New Zealand Cup Freeski and Snowboard Halfpipe finished on Wednesday. American-born Eileen Gu won her second title since becoming a naturalized Chinese citizen.

The finals saw 10 men and eight women each taking three runs and their top score deciding the final results.

The 15-year-old Gu had a great first run, scoring 88 points, which was enough to top the podium. Russia's Valeriya Demidova claimed second with 86.66 points on run two but couldn't match the Chinese athlete on technical difficulty or amplitude, while Great Britain's Zoe Atkin finished third.

On the men's side, top-seeded American Jaxin Hoerter led after the first two rounds, but China's Mao Bingqiang threw down a great third run to win the title with a score of 87.66 points ahead of Americans Cassidy Jarrell and Hoerter.

Meanwhile, Chinese ladies took a clean sweep of the women’s snowboard podium with Cai Xuetong grabbing a convincing 94.66-point win ahead of Wu Shaotong' score of 76.66. Qiu Leng claimed the third spot, followed by Australia's Emily Arthur.

China's Zhang Yiwei topped the men's snowboard podium after his combo of front 900, back 900, front double 1080, cab double 1080 earned him a score of 91.00 points.