China's 16-year-old double youth Olympic Games champion Gu Ailing Eileen claimed her first halfpipe World Cup win in Calgary, Canada.
Gu scored 94.00 points on her third and final run to top the podium. Canada's Rachael Karker finished second at 89.20 points and Russia's Valeriya Demidova took bronze with 87.20 points.
This is Gu's second World Cup season as she won her first slopestyle World Cup event in Seiser Alm, Italy, last year. The all-rounder got better at each run on Friday evening and put down some tricks she has never landed successfully in the contest beforehand.
China's Gu Ailing Eileen posts picture of her winning the halfpipe World Cup in Calgary, Canada, on Instagram.
"Moments like these make me feel the luckiest girl in the world," Gu posted on her Instagram.
In June 2019, the teenage freeskier became China's first naturalized skiing athlete. At her most recent competition action at the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympic Games, she clinched the halfpipe gold as well as a slopestyle silver and a big air gold, making her the country's most promising freestyle skiing star.
Chinese Gu Ailing Eileen competes at FIS Free Ski World Cup 2019 slopestyle event in Seiser Alm, Italy, January 25, 2019. /VCG Photo
Gu came into Friday's action as top qualifier, and she's looking to win Saturday's slopestyle event after finishing second behind Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud in the qualifications.