Yabuli, China, February 12, 2025: Liu Mengting clinched her second gold medal of the Asian Winter Games by winning the Freestyle Skiing Women’s Big Air on Wednesday, February 12.
Two days ago, Liu claimed gold in the women’s freestyle skiing slopestyle in Yabuli. Her biggest challenge on Wednesday was the strong winds gusting across the Big Air venue.
“The weather had a significant impact on the athletes’ performances today. The wind was extremely strong and, due to the adverse conditions, I had to reduce the degree of difficulty in my routine, which made winning gold a bit more uncertain for me,” explained the 20-year-old Liu.
But even the force of nature was unable to prevent one of China’s most promising young skiers from adding the Big Air gold to the slopestyle gold to underline her medal-winning potential at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Liu seems to have already been pencilled in as a future Olympic medal prospect. The mere fact that she was a flagbearer at the opening ceremony is enough evidence of how highly she is rated by Chinese officialdom.
“I’m pleased with the outcome of my performances in Harbin. To win two gold medals is memorable. My ultimate goal is to bring glory to my country. Now my next target is obviously the 2026 Winter Olympics. I will do my best to stand on the podium again,” Liu said.
It was a 1-2-3 finish for China in the Women’s Big Air. Han Linshan won the silver and Yang Ruyi took home the bronze. Along with Liu, they strung various poses for TV and photographers as they waited for official confirmation of the results.
China won four out of the five gold medals on offer in the snow events in Yabuli on Wednesday. Only three events were to be carried out, but organisers brought forward the two Big Air events by a day, fearing weather conditions would further deteriorate by Thursday, February 13, the scheduled date of the event.
In the men’s Freeski Big Air, Japanese Rai Kasamura won gold with Koreans Yoon Jonghyun and Shin Yeongseop taking the silver and bronze respectively.
It was a rare occasion that a Chinese athlete failed to reach the podium. Normal service soon resumed, however, with China sweeping the board in the Ski Mountaineering Mixed Relay events finishing 1-2-3.
China also won the Cross-Country Skiing relay events, winning gold in the Women’s 4x5km and the Men’s 4x7.5km events.