By JOSEPH WILSON, Associated Press

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Mathilde Gremaud successfully defended her Olympic freeski slopestyle title and denied Eileen Gu a gold medal for a second straight Winter Games.

Gremaud won Monday’s final with a score of 86.96 from the best of her three jumps, while Gu again took silver behind her Swiss rival with her best effort of 86.58.

Gu needed a huge score on her final run when she had one last chance to better Gremaud, but that run barely lasted. Gu skittered off the first rail and toppled to her side, dashing her title hopes.

Knowing she had locked up the gold after Gu fell, Gremaud tied a Swiss flag around her neck and wore it like a cape as she cruised down the course on her victory lap. After coming off the course, she embraced her teammates to celebrate her fourth career Olympic medal. Nearby, ecstatic supporters waved Swiss flags.

Gremaud, who turned 26 the day before the final, has now beaten Gu twice in Olympic finals by the slightest of margins: 0.33 points in 2022, and 0.38 in 2026.

Canada’s Megan Oldham claimed bronze.

That tricky rail doomed Gu

Strong as Gremaud was in the jumps, Gu was undone by the railing section at the start of her run.

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Gu led after the first of three runs when she nailed her routine, but Gremaud laid down her winning run on her second go to move to the top of the points table. Gu then wobbled off the rail on her second run; even though she kept her balance, but the mistake resulted in a low score.

That same rail section had caused Gu to fall during Saturday’s qualifying, when she had to execute perfectly on a second go to advance to the final.

But when it mattered most on Monday and Gu had her last shot to snatch a win, the result was the same: Just seconds into her run she went tipping off the rail and tumbled in the snow.

Gu, who was born in America but competes for China, became a global star at the 2022 Beijing Games where she won three medals, including gold in freeski halfpipe and big air. She will now turn to defending her titles at these Games.

Gremaud’s medal chest includes a silver in slopestyle from the 2018 Winter Games and a bronze in big air from 2022. She is also a two-time world champion in slopestyle in 2025 and 2023, among other titles.

In slopestyle, skiers perform acrobatic tricks while skiing over rails and jumps that are judged for difficulty and execution. The Livigno course consists of three rail sections followed by three jumps. The best score of the three jumps counts.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Thousands of public schoolteachers in San Francisco went on strike Monday, the first public schoolteachers strike in the city in nearly 50 years.

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The strike comes after teachers and the district failed to reach an agreement over higher wages, health benefits, and more resources for special needs students. The San Francisco Unified School District closed all its 120 schools and said it would offer independent study to some of the district’s 50,000 students.

“We are facing an affordability crisis,” Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, said in a statement Sunday night. “Family healthcare premiums of $1,500 per month are pushing excellent teachers and support staff out of our district. This week, we said enough is enough.”

Teachers with the union were joining the picket line after last-ditch negotiations over the weekend failed to reach a new contract. Mayor Daniel Lurie and Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco had urged the two sides to keep talking rather than shut down schools.

Union leaders planned to hold a news conference Monday morning about the strike and an afternoon rally was planned at San Francisco City Hall. Negotiations were scheduled to resume midday Monday.

The union and the district have been negotiating for nearly a year, with teachers demanding fully funded family health care, salary raises and the filling of vacant positions impacting special education and services.

The teachers also want the district to enact policies to support homeless and immigrant students and families.

The union is asking for a 9% raise over two years, which would mean an additional $92 million per year for the district. They say that money could come from reserve funds that could be directed back to classrooms and school sites.

SFUSD, which faces a $100 million deficit and is under state oversight because of a long-standing financial crisis, rejected the idea. Officials countered with a 6% wage increase paid over three years. On Friday, San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su also said the offer also includes bonuses for all employees if there is a surplus by the 2027-28 school year.

A report by a neutral fact-finding panel released last week recommended a compromise of a 6% increase over two years, largely siding with the district’s arguments that it is financially constrained.

The union said San Francisco teachers receive some of the lowest contributions to their health care costs in the Bay Area, pushing many to leave. Su said the district offered two options: the district paying 75% of family health coverage at Kaiser or offering an annual allowance of $24,000 for teachers to choose their health care plan.

Lurie, who helped broker an agreement that ended a hotel workers unions strike after he was elected and before taking office, said that the city agencies were coordinating with the district on how to offer support to children and their families.

“I know everyone participating in these negotiations is committed to schools where students thrive and our educators feel truly supported, and I will continue working to ensure that,” Lurie said in a social media post Sunday.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The operator of roughly 180 Eddie Bauer stores across the U.S. and Canada has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

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Eddie Bauer LLC said Monday it had entered into a restructuring pact with its secured lenders as it made the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

The bankruptcy filing marks the third time in a matter of a little over two decades for the storied-but-now-tired brand that began as a Seattle fishing shop, later outfitted the first American to climb Mount Everest and made thousands of newfangled down jackets and sleeping bags for the military during World War I.

According to the release, Eddie Bauer retail and outlet stores in the U.S. and Canada will remain open and continue serving customers as the company begins its process of winding down certain stores. It noted that it will conduct a court-supervised sales process, and if a sale can’t be executed, it will begin a wind-down of its U.S. and Canadian operations.

“This is not an easy decision,” said Marc Rosen, CEO of Catalyst Brands, which maintains the license to operate Eddie Bauer stores in the U.S. and Canada. “However, this restructuring is the best way to optimize value for the retail company’s stakeholders and also ensure Catalyst Brands remains profitable and with strong liquidity and cash flow.”

Eddie Bauer’s retail store locations outside of the U.S. and Canada are operated by other licensees, are not included in the Chapter 11 filings, and will continue operating in the ordinary course.

Authentic Brands Group continues to own the intellectual property associated with the Eddie Bauer brand and may license the brand to other operators, the company said. The operations of other brands in the Catalyst Brands portfolio are not affected by this filing and will continue in the normal course, according to the release.

Eddie Bauer’s e-commerce and wholesale operations will not be impacted by the wind down, as they are operated by a company called Outdoor 5, LLC.

By EDDIE PELLS, Associated Press National Writer

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Chloe Kim’s first truly meaningful ride through a halfpipe in almost 11 months will come at no place other than the Olympics.

United State’s Chloe Kim practices as a photographer watches during a snowboard halfpipe training session at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

That feels daunting, even for one of the best snowboarders in the world, whose leadup to the Games took a detour when she injured her shoulder during a training run in Switzerland the second week of January.

“I have so much anxiety,” Kim said Monday, two days before she begins her quest to win a third straight gold medal. “But thankfully I have matcha (tea) and there’s good vibes here and my family’s here, so we’ll be good.”

The 25-year-old American said she returned to the halfpipe about two weeks ago and is wearing a brace on her left shoulder that, “in a funny way … made my riding better.”

Her coach, Rick Bower, told The Associated Press that practices have been going well since Kim returned to the snow.

“Clearly, it’s not an ideal situation, but all things considered, the work she’s put in over the last 15 years, she’s in a place where she can deal with it,” he said. “Though it’s not what we’d like, the riding is at the point to where she can still compete for gold.”

Kim spoke of the mental reboot she was able to enjoy, in large part by winning a contest in Aspen in January 2025 that put her on the Olympic team more than a year before the Games. She won world championships two months after that, then took time off.

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Vonn’s legacy was built on pushing the limits

Her plan was to ease into the Olympic season — lots of practice, followed by one competition in Copper Mountain, Colo., in December, then another in Laax, Switzerland, in January.

She made it through the low-pressure qualifying round at Copper Mountain, but fell and injured her shoulder while getting ready for the final. She rebounded from that, but suffered the more serious injury almost exactly a month before she jumps into the halfpipe in Italy.

It leaves the one run in Copper Mountain as the only scored run Kim has made since last March. She said often muscle memory overcomes the nerves once she drops in.

“I feel confident,” Kim said. “I feel really good about how I’m feeling physically and mentally, and that’s most important right now.”

When healthy, Kim would be the clear favorite even in a sport that is advancing quickly. Korea’s 17-year-old Gaon Choi has been ramping up the difficulty and could pose the greatest threat to Kim’s three-peat.

But Kim herself has always led the way on the halfpipe. She said her big run this week is one she’s never done. It will be a tougher version of what she won with in Beijing — tricks involving riding backward and forward and spinning in both directions off those approaches.

“If I’m able to pull that off, regardless of where I place, I’ll be really content with that,” Kim said.