Eileen Gu got real about her goal of impacting more young girls and motivating them to take up free skiing, as she’s continuing to bid for the big air gold to repeat the feat from the 2022 Beijing Games. Gu won the slopestyle silver for the second straight Winter Games, earning 86.58 points behind Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud with 86.96 points.
Eileen Gu Reveals Her Real Motive To Help Bring More Young Girls to Freeskiing
Gu has been a global phenomenon both on and off the slopes and entered the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics as the top prospect for gold medals in her respective events. She has not only built a résumé for the record books but also brought more attention to skiing, especially in China, inspiring younger girls to take up the sport and pursue it competitively.
In an interview during the Milan-Cortina Olympics, the double Olympic gold medalist, Gu, shared that she feels honored to have a platform to show more people that skiing is for everyone. She said:
“The goal has always been to introduce free skiing to more young people, particularly girls. And I think that goal remains very much the same, and I’m honored to have the platform that I do have and to be able to hopefully bring the sport to more people, to inspire change, and to represent the sport.
“Make girls who are sitting at home, if it’s their first time hearing about free skiing, maybe they hear about it from someone who looks like them, and they feel like this sport belongs to them, too. So that feels really powerful to me and always has.”
The big air and halfpipe finals are scheduled for February 14 and 19, respectively.
Since her double Olympic gold win at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Gu has not had as much time on the slopes due to injuries and other setbacks. She suffered a knee injury in 2023 and experienced multiple training injuries during the 2025 season, which forced her to sit out major competitions, including the Asian Games.
Just months before the Games, she was distracted on the course by fans and was involved in a “very terrible accident” after falling.
In a descriptive Instagram post before the marquee event kicked off, Gu expressed how this Olympic edition would be different. Having struggled with injuries, she said she hadn’t spent enough time skiing until the final stretch before the Games, when she began feeling lighter and rediscovered a strong love for her sport. She also assured that winning or losing would not affect her enjoyment.
