TIME

Caption

“The numbers say that I’m, competitively, the best freeskier that’s ever lived.” After every jump during training, Eileen Gu—the double-Olympic champion who made the controversial decision to represent China instead of her native U.S. at the 2022 Beijing Games—breaks down her flips and twists in technical detail with her mother and confidante, Yan. In her sport, Gu says, “it’s not too cool to try too hard. I’m super unapologetic about it. That’s the fun part for me. It’s super addicting. I’m totally obsessed with it.” The all-time leader in freeskiing World Cup wins, Gu, 22, has continued to rack up victories since her first Winter Games. And her fame has extended beyond the slopes. She has spent the past four years jetting around the world to appear at fashion shows and events—modeling for brands like Louis Vuitton and Victoria’s Secret and posing for the ‘Sports Illustrated’ swimsuit issue—and keeping sponsorship commitments, all while managing her workload as a Stanford undergraduate. (She took 2025 off from school to train for the Olympics.) Now as she prepares to defend her medals and extend her glory, Gu tells TIME sports correspondent Sean Gregory about her mindset ahead of the Milano Cortina Olympic Games and her desire to show young people that they “can do it all now.” Read at the link in bio. Photograph by @lesliezhang1992 for TIME

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@eileengu