Eileen Gu qualifies for Big Air on mission to win three gold medals for China.

Eileen Gu, the 18-year-old freeskier from California who hopes to win three gold medals for China, her mother’s home country, advanced to the final of big air, her first Olympic event.

Gu had a strong first jump and a solid third one to finish fifth among 25 competitors on Monday morning in Beijing. The top 12 advanced to the final, scheduled for Tuesday.

The event took place on a crisp, blue-sky morning at the Big Air Shougang Park, a converted steelworks on the western edge of Beijing. After days of build up, many in the crowd were most excited to see Gu, whose face has been ubiquitous on television screens and billboards around the country. In China, she is known as Gu Ailing.

“She’s a student, she’s a supermodel, and she’s China’s hope for freeskiing,” an announcer declared before the event.

Gu was born and raised in San Francisco. Her mother, Yan Gu, was the daughter of an engineer for the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of China, in Beijing. She emigrated to the United States about 30 years ago to pursue graduate degrees.

In 2019, after a couple of seasons competing for the United States at major competitions (and winning one World Cup event), Eileen Gu announced that she would compete for China. She speaks fluent Mandarin and has endorsement deals with many Chinese companies. She is also an IMG model, seen in advertisements for Tiffany & Company, Louis Vuitton and other high-end retailers.

Gu will compete in three freestyle skiing events: big air, slopestyle and halfpipe. She has not finished lower than second place in any of those events at major competitions over the past year.

She achieved what she hoped to achieve on Monday — a spot in the big air final. The crowd cheered and breathed a collective sigh of relief as she landed her third jump after a low scoring second attempt that ended with her landing backward and losing a ski.

“Oh, my God!” Gu said with a smile after securing her position in the next day’s final.