Chinese athletes Xu Mengtao and Li Fanghui shone brightly at the FIS Snowboard/Freestyle/Freeski World Championships in Corviglia, Switzerland, on Sunday. Xu earned a silver medal in the women’s aerials, while Li secured silver in the women’s ski halfpipe event.
In the aerials competition, Xu delivered a stellar second run, earning 99.16 points, just behind Kaila Kuhn of the USA who took gold with 105.13 points. Australia’s Danielle Scott claimed bronze with 96.93 points. This marks Xu’s seventh consecutive World Championships podium finish, highlighting her consistent excellence in the sport. Fellow Chinese athletes Chen Xuezheng and Shao Qi also performed admirably, finishing fourth and sixth respectively.
Earlier, Li Fanghui impressed the crowd in the ski halfpipe final. She led the qualification round with 95.00 points and maintained her strong performance in the finals. Li scored 90.25 points on her first run, the only athlete to surpass 90.00 on initial attempts. Despite a remarkable second run score of 93.00, she was edged out by Great Britain’s Zoe Atkin, who recovered from a low first run to score 93.50 on her second. Canada’s Cassie Sharpe took bronze with 88.00 points. This silver medal marks Li’s first World Championships podium, a significant milestone in her budding career.
The achievements of Xu and Li highlight the growing prominence of Chinese athletes in international snow sports. With strong performances from other team members like Chen Zihan, Zhang Kexin, and Liu Yishan, who placed sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively in the ski halfpipe, the future looks bright for China’s snow sports scene.
