Freeskiing
Say hello to freeskiing's female power players
Eileen Gu, Mathilde Gremaud, Tess Ledeux and Kelly Sildaru have rewritten the rules of freestyle skiing by creating new tricks, winning medals and making history on the world's biggest winter stages.
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There's no doubt that in terms of both progression and popularity, women's freestyle skiing is exploding right now, and it's all thanks to a young new generation of incredibly talented athletes who are raising the game beyond all recognition.
It's a revolution in evolution and at the pinnacle of it are Chinese- American superstar Eileen Gu, Estonian Kelly Sildaru, Tess Ledeux of France and Swiss Mathilde Gremaud. So who are they and what is it they're doing on skis that's so radical?
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Eileen Gu
Eileen Gu has been breaking records since she turned pro
© Syo van Vliet/Red Bull Content Pool
Let's start with the crossover star breaking out into the world of mainstream coverage like no female freeskier or snowboarder ever has – the new Time Magazine cover star Eileen Gu.
Gu is a once-in-a-generation freestyle skier and the first-ever to win three medals at a single Winter Games. She's also already at the top of the all-time FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup wins list with 20 victories despite being only 22-years-old - a record she secured after another win in slopestyle at the 2026 LAAX Open.
It's not only the game-changing dominance Gu's displayed that sets her apart from the crowd however. She's also a star in two countries, because as well as Time, she's also appeared on the covers of Vogue Hong Kong and China's In Style Magazine all while studying quantum physics at Stanford University. She's redefining what it means to be an action sports athlete.
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Mathilde Gremaud
Mathilde Gremaud has various new tricks to her name
© Mark Clinton/Red Bull Content Pool
For some athletes, it's all about bagging medals. That's the motivation to keep pushing. For ground-breaking Swiss heroine Mathilde Gremaud however, it's the process and trying new things that get her on the slopes.
That's why she's renowned as the woman who's pushed freeskiing tricks to incredible new heights even more than a winner of gold and silver slopestyle medals on the sport's biggest stage. "I'm not the kind of person who always dreamed about that. The whole thing seems so cheesy to me," she even admitted recently.
As for those historic new tricks, a rookie Gremaud certainly made her mark when she landed the first-ever women's Switch Double Cork 1080 to win a first X Games gold medal in 2017. She then turned the sport on its head and ushered in a new era for female freeskiing when she landed the first-ever Switch Double Cork 1440 – a trick that consists of two rotations with four spins, all of which have to come with the athlete starting backside - in 2020.
No other female freestyler goes bigger and Gremaud's huge, progressive bag of tricks has helped her to score no less than three FIS crystal globes during an historic 2024 season, not to mention three more Winter X Games golds, U.S. Grand Prix wins and more. All before turning 25.
Watch Gremaud's incredible story in She Who Flies in the player below:
50 min
She Who Flies
This cinematic journey charts the highs, lows and in-betweens of Freeski World Champion Mathilde Gremaud.
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Kelly Sildaru
Estonian Kelly Sildaru is freeskiing's equivalent of something like a tennis wonderkid. Coached by her dad, Tallinn-born Sildaru was a true phenomenon who dropped her first season edit at just five-years-old, landed a Switch 900 in a comp aged 10 and then became the youngest-ever gold medallist at 2016 Winter X Games when she landed the freeski slopestyle title.
The skier who pushed her rivals to really step outside of their comfort zone in the name of progression, 2017 saw Sildaru become the first woman to land a Switch 1260° Mute and a 1440° during a competition at the Winter X Games in Norway.
Kelly Sildaru is a true freeskiing prodigy who's changed the game
© Christian Pondella/Red Bull Content Pool
It seemed like gold on the biggest stage was imminent in 2018, but the first of three serious knee injuries derailed that season. However, bouncing back from that first ruptured ACL in incredible fashion, Sildaru made history with an unprecedented three medals at the 2019 X Games in Aspen, including a near-perfect score of 99 out of 100 in the slopestyle final, and the FIS World Championships slopestyle crown as well.
Sadly, recent seasons and Sildaru's world-beating momentum have been hampered by two more career-threatening knee injuries in 2022 and late 2024. Now however the Estonian star is on the comeback trail once again and determined to get back bagging gold medals and changing the sport. We can't wait to see what she's got up her sleeves.
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Tess Ledeux
Tess Ledeux combines a fearless approach with ultra technicality
© Lorenz Richard/Red Bull Content Pool
While Sildaru has been on freestyle's radar since she was eight, French star Tess Ledeux's debut on the world stage came a little later, but was no less impressive for it.
Aged just 15, Ledeux won her first world title in slopestyle, making her the youngest-ever freeski world champion. And, while she's now one of the best-known faces on the scene, Ledeux still retains that freshness. She has good pedigree, too. Her cousin is Kévin Rolland, the legendary French halfpipe champion, and, we assume, a huge role model for the young star.
Ledeux has earned herself a formidable reputation for combining a fearless approach with ultra technicality, which is a recipe for success in big air, where sending it deep is as important as keeping it clean. This all-in approach has paid off in spades as she has racked up multiple World Championships, a slew of X Games golds and a silver medal from Beijing in 2022.
Like all of the above, Ledeux is a progression machine, and it's going to be interesting to see just how far she'll push the sport during what is already a stellar career.
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