Exclusive - Eileen Gu opens up on comeback after dizzying global fashion tour
Ten months of runways, fashion shoots and even an appearance at the Met Gala have brought the freestyle superstar back to where she sealed her Olympic fame - the top of the halfpipe podium in Genting Snow Park, this time at a World Cup. Olympics.com spoke to Eileen Gu about her time off the slopes and goals beyond the 2023/24 season.
Freestyle Skiing
A heavy crash on a snow course would be sufficient excuse for most people to take it easy and scale back on their activity level.
Not double Olympic champion Eileen Gu who has had a whirlwind 10 months since withdrawing from the freestyle skiing competition at the 2023 Winter X Games due to injury.
University lectures on quantum physics, fashion runways, magazine photoshoots and an appointment as a Global Ambassador of the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games packed the 20-year-old’s agenda. In December, however, Gu proved that she was more than ready to swap textbooks and designer gowns for skis again as she claimed gold in her first World Cup competition of the 2023/24 season.
The Chinese skier returned to her first major international competition since January 2023 at the halfpipe World Cup in Secret Garden. It was the same venue that hosted the Beijing 2022 freestyle competition and Gu left no doubt about her form, scoring 94.25 in her best run, more than 12 points over runner-up Hanna Faulhaber.
“Being injured earlier this year was a really difficult time for me physically and mentally, and I think I learned a lot through the process and I'm super excited to get back into it this year,” the Beijing 2022 halfpipe and Big Air champion told Olympics.com.
“I'm a lot more focussed now on the means, not only the ends, and so perhaps [I am] remaining more present and enjoying the process. Every day on snow is a new blessing to me and something that I'm grateful to have."
Eileen Gu and the many hats she wears
Gu looked in prime form at the start of the 2022/23 season. The triple Olympic medallist travelled to Aspen, Colorado for the annual Winter X Games straight after making her World Cup season debut with back-to-back halfpipe victories in Calgary, Canada.
However, Gu's promising season was cut short when she suffered a crash during training and injured her knee.
An MRI scan later revealed an MCL strain, ACL strain and a bone bruise.
“The last few hours really put everything in perspective and made me realize how important it is to keep my body healthy," Gu wrote on social media after receiving the results of her medical tests. "I’ll be back soon.”
And so she was - but not before dipping her toes in a slew of other pursuits.
The Olympian spent the following 10 months jet-setting around the world for fashion shows, magazine shoots – including the cover of Vogue Beauty China - and jewellery ad campaigns. Gu even walked the famous staircase at the Met Gala – never forgetting, of course, her recovery or physics curriculum at Stanford University.
“I really love having a multifaceted life. I think that being a full-time student, being a full-time model and a full-time professional athlete have really all contributed to different parts of one another," she said.
"Being in school has informed the way that I learn and that I deal with pressure in skiing. Skiing has helped me feel strong and confident with my body in fashion, and is helping to build a new narrative around beauty, not only what your body looks like, but also what it can do. And then fashion towards school, I think has helped me bring a more creative and personalised approach to my learning.”
With her different passions for skiing, modelling and schoolwork, Gu certainly has a lot on her plate. But even while her agenda is packed to the brim, she is not about to give up any of her three passions.
“I don't play favourites," Gu said. "It's like choosing a favourite child."
Catwalking and shredding through Italy with Eileen Gu
This season’s freestyle skiing World Cup stretches from 19 October to 24 March with Gu expected to compete in multiple events.
With just over two years to go until Milano Cortina 2026, Gu is hoping a batch of solid results will give her momentum heading into her second Olympic Games.
Already, Italy has a special place in her life.
She clinched her career's first World Cup win, in slopestyle, in the Seiser Alm area of the Dolomites. Italy is also where Gu opened and closed her first fashion week when she took to the runway in September for Milan Fashion - shortly before starting her first day of classes at Stanford later the same week.
This special connection with Italy makes Gu even more excited about the 2026 Games.
“Competing in Milan will, hopefully, be a beautiful, beautiful experience," Gu said, recalling her first Olympic experience at Beijing 2022. "Being in a non-Covid Olympics is going to be pretty game-changing... Being in the bubble changed the experience a bit. Obviously it was still the dream and everything that I ever could have hoped for it to be, but there is a sense of novelty in that, and that's something I'm looking forward to.
"We always make the joke that every time I walk a show, my mom cries and I have to convince her to be proud of me when I ski, too!”