China's Gu Ailing took the silver in the women's freestyle skiing slopestyle event in Zhangjiakou, north China on Tuesday, continuing her medal-winning streak at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics following her big air triumph last week.

Gu delivered a strong third run to score 86.23 points at Genting Snow Park.

But it wasn't enough to top Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud, who after a failed first run came out strong to score 86.56 points on her second, to eventually win the gold.

Kelly Sildaru of Estonia took the bronze with 82.06 points.

All athletes did three runs in the final, with their best one counting toward the final result.

Eighteen-year-old superstar Gu had gone into her Olympics debut, targeting three golds in as many disciplines: women's freeski big air, slopestyle and halfpipe.

She took gold in big air at the Shougang venue in Beijing last week, pipping France's Tess Ledeux with a stunning double cork 1620 in her final run.

Read more: Gu qualifies for women's free ski slopestyle after delay

Her performance on Tuesday left her just 0.33 points short of a second gold, but it still sets her up nicely to best her tally at world championships last year, when she won golds in halfpipe and big air, and bronze in slopestyle.

The women's freeski halfpipe competition will take place on Friday at Genting Snow Park.

"The trifecta (of medals at Beijing 2022) has always been my biggest goal; I know it's something I can do. So, I wanted to get on the podium more than anything. So, landing, I just felt relieved. I felt happy," Gu said after her race. 

"Of course, I'm competitive. So, the 0.3 points (between herself and Gremaud), I'm going to think about that. But it's ok; I'm happy."

"My goal coming into this Olympics was to win one gold and have one more podium in a different event, so I've already met that goal, and I'm going into my strongest event. (I'm) feeling really good right now and super excited to see what the next couple of days bring," she said. 

For Gremaud, who won silver in slopestyle in Pyeongchang in 2018 and bronze in big air in Beijing last week, Tuesday's gold completed her set of Olympic medals. 

"I definitely did not expect that. It's a great feeling," she said, adding that she looked forward to putting her three medals next to each other. 

Her slopestyle win came in the most unlikely way after she barely made it through the qualifying round on Monday and then broke her binding in the first run on Tuesday to finish last in the field with a mere 1.10 points.

But if anything, this mishap helped. "It was just a good distraction for me; it put my mind somewhere else. Instead of thinking, 'Oh man, what am I going to do? I just crashed on my first run' I was just like, 'Ok, it's fine. I have two more (runs).'"

"It just helped me to get my mind somewhere else and not think about what I had to do with my run and how I could not crash again. I just emptied my head.”

As the first athlete heading into the second run, she then showed what she was capable of nailing the ramps and jumps to take the top score.

"After big air and already having a bronze, for me, this Olympics was already a big win... So, I was not expecting much; I just wanted to do my best and have fun,”she said.

Sildaru was leading after the first run, but after Gremaud and Gu topped her score, she had to settle for third place.

"My first run was pretty much like a safe run. That run brought me bronze... I'm happy about it, but it would have been better (if) I could have put down a better run. I landed my second run, which was actually pretty good. My ski popped off, but I landed my tricks, and that's good."

Of her medal, the first in freestyle skiing for Estonia at the Olympics, she said, "I can't explain how happy I am right now. It's been such a great experience. And now walking away with a bronze, it's just amazing."

Big air world champion Anastasia Tatalina of Russia Olympic Committee team delivered an impressive double cork 1440 near the end, but a less than clean earlier jump put her in fourth place.