Eileen Gu’s second Winter Olympics campaign in Italy didn’t deliver the same fireworks as her breakout performance in Beijing four years ago. Even then, she secured two silver medals, with the second coming in women’s big air on February 16. She went against her team’s plan, which ultimately paid off.

“My mom called a team meeting the day after slopestyle,” said Gu in a recent interview.

“She was like, ‘All right, we got the medal. Let’s move on to halfpipe.’ And I was like, ‘Whaaat?’ I thought my jumps were pretty good. Maybe we could do something nice in big air.”

After grabbing the silver in slopestyle, her mother, Yan Gu, also the 22-year-old’s mentor, urged her to skip the big air and instead focus on the halfpipe, where she demonstrated grit and dominance to win the gold in Beijing four years ago.

But the California-born skier hadn’t participated in a big air competition since the last Olympics, giving the team a genuine reason to be worried.

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With the halfpipe event starting on February 19, her training would have fallen on the same day as the big air competition day. She only practiced the big air moves just three days before the scheduled event in Livigno, learning the left side double cork 1260 efficiently. Gu executed it cleanly on the big stage, leaving even her team astonished.

During the final round of Big Air, Gu secured big points early with a Right Double Cork 1440. Then she tried Left Double Cork 1260 but had a shaky landing, lowering her odds of clinching a medal.

However, she kept her composure, successfully landing the second Left Double Cork 1260, giving her the second-place finish, just behind the Canadian gold medalist, Megan Oldham.

Now, despite missing out on the gold, Gu has a new record to her name.

Eileen Gu set a record in the Winter Olympics 2026

With two more medals in Italy, Gu has cemented her legacy as the most accomplished female freestyle skier in Olympic history. Although she was born in America, she decided to compete for China in skiing competitions, including the Olympics.

So far, she has won five medals, including two golds, making her the female freestyle skier with the most medals. As she is still scheduled to compete in halfpipe this week, her medal tally could go up, considering it’s an area where she stands out.

Gu’s two Olympic golds came in Beijing: first place in big air and then halfpipe. She also won a silver in slopestyle, narrowly missing out on the opportunity of grabbing three golds from a single competition.

Building on her remarkable success in skiing, she has gone on to become one of the highest-paid female athletes (approximately $ 23 million) in the world.

In addition to her athletic accomplishments, the 22-year-old effortlessly balances a thriving modeling career.