Freeskier Liu eyes Olympic podium after two home World Cup medal finishes

With back-to-back podium finishes bolstering her Olympic ambition, China's rising freeskier Liu Mengting has landed herself on the hot-favorite list in the big air discipline at her Winter Olympic debut in Italy.

Riding on the momentum from her third-place finish at last week's season-opening World Cup event in Chongli, Hebei province, Liu, a freestyle skier specializing in the high-flying big air discipline, stepped up her efforts to qualify for the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Games by winning a silver medal at the Cup series' leg stop in Beijing on Saturday.

Hurling down from the Shougang Big Air slope with poise, Liu landed her first two runs in the final with high quality — stomping a left dub 1440 cindy to score a field high 90.50 points in her first jump and a right dub 1080 safety to score 81.75 points in her second.