Eileen Gu, already with two Olympic medals in Beijing, moved her ambitions to the freeski halfpipe on Thursday, advancing easily to the final on Friday.
Her first of two qualifying runs scored 93.75, vaulting her to the top of the field and ensuring a chance at another medal.
Gu, the Californian who is competing for China, believes that halfpipe is the best of her three events. She had already won gold in big air and narrowly missed another in slopestyle, settling for silver.
A women’s field of 20 qualifiers was pared to 12 finalists.