Canada’s Sharpe wins silver, Karker bronze in women's freeski halfpipe

ZHANGJIAKOU, China — The night before competing in the women's freeski halfpipe at the Beijing Olympics, Cassie Sharpe wrote in her journal that regardless of the event's outcome she should be proud of herself.

Sharpe had won gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and was set to defend her Olympic crown when she broke her femur and tore the ligaments in her left knee in a crash at the Winter X-Games in January 2021. Reconstructive surgery followed by nine months of physical rehabilitation and only four months of skiing paid off for Sharpe on Friday when she won silver at the Beijing Olympics with friend and teammate Rachael Karker earning bronze.

"Coming to these Games after being out for nine months, I knew that it was going to take a lot to even just be on the podium," said Sharpe. "So this feels incredibly special. I'm incredibly proud of myself and I'm just grateful to have put all of the pieces together today."

Chinese sensation Eileen Gu took the gold, with a score of 95.25 in her second run at Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park. Most of the spectators — including event staff and volunteers — were loudly cheering for Gu, who won her third medal of the Beijing Olympics after a gold in women's big air and a silver in women's slopestyle.

"It has been two straight weeks of the most intense highs and lows I've ever experienced in my life," said Gu, who holds dual citizenship with China and the United States. "It has changed my life forever. The second I landed the last 1600 in big air I knew my life was never going to be the same.

"Even then I would have never imagined that I'd walk away with another silver and another gold."

Sharpe, a 29-year-old from Calgary, scored 90.75 on her third run to clinch silver. She had held down