China’s US-born freeski superstar Eileen Gu said she feels she is “carrying the weight of two countries on my shoulders” after missing out on Olympic gold on Tuesday AEDT in the women’s slopestyle final.
The two-time gold medallist, who sat fourth on Forbes’ 2025 highest-paid female athletes in the world mostly for her talents away from sport, took silver behind Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud at Livigno Snow Park.
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It was a repeat of the result from the 2022 Beijing Games.
Gremaud posted 86.96 points in her best run of three, narrowly ahead of Gu (86.58), who had been aiming for a unique golden treble at the Milan-Cortina Games.
Gu was one of the faces of the Beijing Olympics four years ago, winning gold in the half-pipe and big air competitions, and taking silver behind Gremaud in slopestyle.
Since then, a combination of injuries and academic commitments, including her studies at Stanford and a term at Oxford University, have limited her time on the slopes.
“The hardest part has been staying consistent all these years. I’ve had a really tough last four years, dealing with injury and time off the snow and then some mental stuff,” she said.
“Sometimes it feels like I’m carrying the weight of two countries on my shoulders. Just being able to ski through all of that, you know. To still show my best and still be so deeply in love with the sport.
“That’s really what I care about and I’m so happy to represent that today.”
Gu was born and raised in San Francisco and started her freeskiing career representing the United States, only to switch allegiance to China — where her mother is from — in 2019.
The 22-year-old, who is also a model, said she had been happy with her performance even though she failed to win gold.
“I think it’s kind of funny that both Olympics we were within half a point of one another,” she said.
“If anything, I think it’s just testament to the growth of women’s freeskiing. It’s so special to be a part of that.”
Australia’s Gulesi falls short of medal | 01:39
Last year, according to Forbes, Gu earned an eye-watering $23.1 million (AU$32.6m) — though only $100,000 (AU$140,984) of that figure was actually earned from skiing.
The number put her above world-famous tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Madison Keys, and women’s basketball phenom Caitlin Clark.
The next-highest-ranked Winter Olympian on the list is 41-year-old Lindsay Vonn, who sits equal-18th at $8.2 million (AU$11.6m).
So, where does that $23 million come from? Gu, as well as being a star sportswoman, is also an IMG model, having walked down the runway for brands including Victoria’s Secret and Louis Vuitton.
Representing both China and the United States, Gu’s commercial influence in both markets is huge.
For context, she has more than seven million followers on her Weibo account – a Chinese social media platform – which is five million more than her Instagram profile boasts.
Per the Athletic, Gu has long-term fashion and luxury endorsement deals with Western brands including Porsche, Red Bull and Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen – as well as Chinese ones, such as Anta Sports, Bosideng jackets, Mengniu Dairy and, most recently, TCL electronics.
VONN UNDERGOES SECOND SURGERY
American skier Lindsey Vonn has had a second operation to stabilise the fracture of her left leg that she suffered in a brutal crash at the Winter Olympics, Italian agency ANSA reported on Tuesday AEDT.
Vonn, 41, has a fractured femur that was stabilised in two stages, with the placement of an external fixation device, the report said.
The American crashed heavily just 13 seconds after starting her run in the downhill in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Monday.
Her cries of pain were picked up by microphones before she was winched off the piste by a rescue helicopter.
On Monday, Ca’ Foncello hospital in Treviso had announced that the American had undergone surgery “to stabilise a fracture of the left leg”.
Contacted by AFP, the US Ski and Snowboard federation declined to confirm the report, saying it would release a statement on Vonn’s status shortly.
The 2010 Olympic downhill champion was making an audacious bid for a medal after suffering a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee in late January.
Vonn had resumed her career in late 2024 after nearly six years in retirement and was considered a strong favourite for the downhill at the Milan-Cortina Games after recording seven World Cup podium finishes, including two wins, before her crash in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
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