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.

A disappointed Li was all tears after the narrow defeat, but the 22-year-old Asian Winter Games winner remained upbeat that her best has yet to come.

"It's been a great season for me, and I really had a legitimate shot at gold in the final here," said Li, who also added a silver in superpipe at the X Games in January and a World Cup gold in Calgary, Canada last month to her 2025 season collection.

"I got carried away by the pressure, but I know where I have to go, though. I have to improve the quality of my grabs and my mental stability," said Li, who finished fifth on her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022.

Sunday's battle between Atkin and Li was a fitting end to a season in which they shared the Crystal Globe last month, after both finishing with one win, two runner-ups and a fifth-place finish apiece to tie for the season trophy for the first time in FIS history.

Notably, four of the 10 women who started the final are Chinese, backing up the country's collective strength in the pipe discipline, even with the reigning Olympic champion Gu watching from home.

Also capping off the worlds' final day on podium was China's veteran aerials skier and defending Olympic champion Xu Mengtao, who settled with a silver, after young American skier Kaila Kuhn snatched the gold.

A flawed landing on her final run cost Xu a chance of adding a second worlds title to her glittering resume, following her first in 2013, as she scored 99.16 points after completing a back full-full-full — three full rotations with spins in the air — but landing on her back.

Kuhn, who hadn't finished on a podium over the World Cup season, emerged strongly when it mattered the most, with a 105.13-point effort on her final run, which made her the only female to crack the 100-point mark at the worlds this year.

Still, returning to the country where she claimed her first international title (2007 junior worlds), and finishing on podium at her first worlds since she returned from a long break, was encouraging enough for the 34-year-old Xu, who's going to compete at her fifth Winter Olympics next year.

"It was a pretty good practice ahead of the Olympics and I feel quite content with my overall performances," said Xu, who's racked up a record 38 World Cup wins, including team events, in aerials during a storied career.

Led by Xu, two other Chinese women also made it into the six-skier super final on Sunday, serving as a testament to the depth of China's aerialists.

Another of Beijing 2022's heroes announcing a strong return in Switzerland was men's reigning big air Olympic champion snowboarder Su Yiming, who has overcome a series of injuries, as well as struggles with his newfound fame as a 17-year-old gold medalist at his home Games, to come back strongly on the world stage.

Following an inconsistent World Cup season due to fitness problems, on March 21 the 21-year-old proved his doubters wrong by stomping a first run of mesmerizing tricks to earn 85.07 points and a silver medal in the slopestyle final, repeating his runner-up finish in the discipline at Beijing 2022.

Although knocked off the top spot by Canadian rider Liam Brearley's second run of 90.15 points, Su made sure he sent a clear message: his love of the sport is back where it is supposed to be.

"I think it all comes down to love," Su said of his drive to keep pushing forward after having won the ultimate prize so early in his career in an interview with Olympics.com.

"After actually winning the gold medal, I felt a sort of emptiness. I didn't have a clear goal anymore ... To do something to the highest level, it has to come from a place of true passion.

"That's why I took time to reset, and eventually, that love, and that dream, returned to me."