Victoria Secret fashion model Eileen Gu wins ski gold at Winter Olympics as British schoolgirl Kirsty Muir comes fifth

SKIING SUPERSTAR Eileen Gu lived up to her Box Office billing by winning the women’s Big Air Olympic title in front of Thomas Bach and Peng Shuai.

The American-born Victoria’s Secret fashion model wrote her name into Chinese folklore by claiming the freestyle skiing crown at the old Shuogang steelworks in Beijing.

Eileen Gu claimed her first gold medal by winning the women’s Big Air Olympic titleCredit: Getty

The ‘Snow Princess’ is living up to her billing of the poster girl of the GamesCredit: Getty

The talented Gu blew away the rest of the field in her third and final runCredit: Reuters

Brit Kirsty Muir finishes fifth with a total tally of 169Credit: PA

By posting a sensational score of 94.50 on her third and final run – the first time she had nailed a four-and-a-half-rotation trick – the 18-year-old went straight to the top of the leaderboard with an overall score of 188.25.

French flyer Tess Ledeux failed to nail an efficient final run and this gave the home favourite the first of probably three gold medals on her Olympics debut.

The ‘Snow Princess’, who has 1.3million fans on social media platform Weibo, will go again in the slopestyle and halfpipe and could possibly cement her position as the star of these Games.

Aberdeen’s Kirtsy Muir, 17, was fifth with a total tally of 169, even though she was in third place after the first run of 12 women.

After the event Muir told the BBC: “I’m so happy right now honestly, the level was insane.

“It feels amazing [to be a part of it]. I couldn’t have hoped to have skied better today and I’m so proud of all the girls.

“I’ve got a bit of studying to catch up for sure. I’m focused on my next event and then it’s back to school.”

This became one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the Games ever since Gu, who was born and bred in California, made a rumoured $1million switch to China.

Gu is a US citizen but made her decision with input from her Chinese mother Yan, an outspoken “Tiger mum” while her American dad stays in the background.

Gu, who speaks mandarin and frequently visited China as a kid, says she changed nationalities to “inspire millions of young people where my mum was born” and it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to help promote the sport I love”.

As someone who “loves the sound of camera shutters” and appeared on the cover pages of Chinese versions of Vogue, Harper’s and Elle magazines, Gu will be inundated with TV and commercial opportunities once these Covid-hit Games are over.

Of course, the cynics will argue about the potential financial gains she will earn now in the world’s biggest emerging snow market – and trolls on Twitter immediately started calling her a traitor to the US cause.

There was a crowd of up to 300 fans who witnessed history at the Big Air Shuogang in a derelict part of the city.

This was the first time that IOC president Bach and former tennis player Peng had been photographed together.

An opportunity that many see as a PR exercise to appease westerners who have called for details on her whereabouts and safety over the past three months.