0.75 points. This is what Tess Ledeux missed on Tuesday in the big air final to win the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. In tears and very marked after her third and last pass, the skier from La Plagne thought she had done the hardest part after two impressive first runs.
From the outset, the 20-year-old Frenchwoman announced the color by putting down her double cork 1,620 (four and a half laps) and logically took the lead with 94.50 points. The 2019 world champion in the specialty continued her momentum on her second jump with a switch 1,440 (four twists with a backward start), credited with 93.00 points.
With 187.50 points before the third and final run, Ledeux was in an ideal position to win the French delegation’s first gold medal in Beijing. Her main competitor, the Chinese Eileen Gu, had “only” 182.25 points and was condemned to the exploit to deprive her of the title. And that’s what she did by releasing a double cork 1,620 in competition for the first time in her career.
Credited with 94.50 points, as for Ledeux, this risk-taking allowed her to dislodge the Frenchwoman at the worst moment. As the “second best jump” of the Chinese had earned him 93.75 points (against 93.00 for Ledeux), the native of San Francisco, 18, offered the gold medal in a breath. Swiss Mathilde Gremaud (182.50 points) completes the podium.