When will Elaine Gu compete next? The ultimate Slopestyle timeline and how I overcame the nightmare of falling in the playoffs

Elaine Gu arrives at the 2026 Winter Olympics as one of the biggest stars in all of winter sports. She is a defending Olympic champion, a global icon, and the face of a new generation in freestyle skiing. Expectations surrounding the 22-year-old have soared since her historic performance in which she won three medals at the Beijing Games.

However, the Olympics have a way of humiliating even the most decorated athletes, and Joe got the scare early in Milano Cortina. After a thrilling and shaky qualifying round in downhill skiing, the freestyle star is now preparing for her next big test on the Olympic stage.

Despite suffering a terrifying slump in qualifying, Jo showed remarkable resilience to make her way to the final and keep her medal hopes alive. Let’s take a look at her next appearance at the 2026 Winter Olympics and dive into the details of how she overcame a qualifying nightmare.

Elaine Jo’s final downhill style schedule for the 2026 Winter Olympics

Elaine Guo will next compete in the women’s downhill skiing final on Monday, February 9, 2026 at Livigno Snow Park in northern Italy. Below are the dates and schedule for the final round of Slopstyle.

February 9

• 12:30 (CET) – Final round 1
• 13:00 (CET) – Final round 2
• 13:30 (CET) – Final round 3

What happened in the qualifying round?

Gu’s road to the final was not smooth. On Saturday, February 7, during a slopestyle qualifying session in Livigno, Italy, she suffered a scary fall just six seconds into her first run. I lost balance on the opening rail section of the course. The error immediately put her under pressure, leaving her with a low score and little margin for error before her second attempt.

Instead of letting the setback shake her, Eileen Jo Provide a composed and gripping response. After regrouping with her training team and getting a soothing pep talk from her mother, who fueled the athlete with some dried fruit, she returned to the course with renewed focus. Her second round was clean, confident and technically sharp, earning a score of 75.30, good enough for second place overall in qualifying and a comfortable spot in Monday’s medal final.

After the second attempt, Go expressed her feelings about returning back to the stage after the unfortunate fall. She said (via AP News):

“I dug deep into myself. I dug into the pit of my stomach and found my flow state and told myself I worked ridiculously hard. It’s not that I love skating, I’m obsessed with it and I lived and breathed it. If there’s anyone I’d bet on right now, I’d bet on myself.”

Elaine Joe added:

“I just said to myself: ‘I love myself, I believe in myself, I love this sport and I am the best. Like, I could land, and by the time I got to the gate, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to land. “No doubt at all.”

Besides slopestyle, Elaine Gu will also compete in the Big Air and Halfpipe events at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Her fans from the USA and UK can watch her live on NBC Olympics, Peacock, TNT Sports and BBC Sport respectively.